The world's biggest pornographic website is set to be completely blocked for millions of users this week, as the website changes its rules amid pressure from the government regarding age verification laws.
It's becoming increasingly common for certain websites with adult content to be blocked in key areas of the world, as certain American states and prominent European nations have implemented age-related blocks across the last year.
One of the biggest areas to be affected by this the United Kingdom, as the government passed the Online Safety Act, requiring a wide variety of websites and apps to introduce age verification tools that prevent users under the age of 18 from accessing prohibited content.
This didn't just affect explicitly adult sites hosting pornography either, as social media platforms like X and Reddit also required people to show their face or scan their ID to see everything, but it's the former that was seemingly hit hardest.
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Chief among these is Pornhub — the web's biggest porn site and one of the internet's biggest traffic centers, and the adult video sharing platform has now made a controversial and 'disturbing' change that will see millions blocked, regardless of their age.
Following pressure from the Online Safety Act, Pornhub's owner Aylo has revealed that from Monday, February 2, all users who don't have an existing account on the website will be blocked from accessing all explicit content, as per the BBC.
While this appears similar to the previous age verification changes, it coincides with a move that prevents people from creating an account on the UK website, meaning that anyone who hasn't yet done so will have no means of starting an account from now on, even if they're over the minimum age threshold.
There are still some videos that viewers can watch, perhaps within some of the more unorthodox categories like podcasts, but the majority of videos available will require you to log in, following in the footsteps of other sites like Imgur that have blocked UK traffic outright.
Some have speculated that this is a move to boost sign-ups on the website, especially as the move was announced with a grace period as oppose to being implemented immediately, but Alex Kekesi, head of community and brand at Aylo, has denied these accusations.
"Our intention here is not to drive sign-ups. We're going to further restrict our traffic, so if anything it's a lovely gift to the abundance of other sites that are going to remain open and accessible that are continuing to not age verify in the UK."
Others on social media have pointed towards the influx of users looking instead towards virtual private networks (VPNs) to access Pornhub and similar sites, with one comment on Reddit joking: "Pornhub is now restricting access helping VPN sales for UK users," as the service will allow people to 'trick' the browser into thinking they're in another location.
"Good to see the government taking a leading role in [educating] the population on net safety, in particular how to use VPNs," remarked another facetiously, whereas a third wrote: "I don't want to hand in my credit card let alone my details but this is essential for my wellbeing. VPN it is then."