Pornhub gives deadline to UK users as it cuts off access to public

Following crackdowns on the porn industry and amendments made by Parliament, Pornhub is about to further restrict access to its site.

In July of last year, porn sites in the UK had to introduce new verification rules as the Online Safety Act came into force. This was designed in order to stop children from viewing adult content, as websites now have to verify users are aged 18 or over.

But now, Pornhub is blaming these tighter age checks as the reason it is restricting access in the UK. And it's set a bit of a deadline for users after traffic to the website has fallen.

Figures from LADbible's recent 'For F**k's Sake' campaign, which aimed at starting an honest conversation about porn, showed that 77 percent of Gen Z consume porn.

Pornhub previously reported a drop in traffic. (Jack Taylor/Getty Images)

And the tougher age checks introduced last year were relative to this, in a bid to stop children from coming across inappropriate material.

However, Pornhub has said its new restrictions are a result of the supposed ‘failure’ of the Online Safety Act requirements.

The video-sharing website’s parent company, Aylo, said the law change caused traffic to the website to fall by 77 percent. Users currently have to verify their age with the likes of photo ID documents, facial age estimation and credit card age tracks.

And now, from 2 February, people will only be able to access content on Pornhub if they have previously made an account.

A statement from Aylo read: "In line with other stakeholder groups, academics and public policy institutions, Aylo’s assessment is that the Online Safety Act (OSA) has not achieved its intended goal of protecting minors.

"Effective February 2, 2026 Aylo will no longer participate in the failed system that has been created in the United Kingdom as a result of the OSA’s introduction. Based on Aylo’s data and experience, this law and regulatory framework have made the internet more dangerous for minors and adults and jeopardise the privacy and personal data of UK citizens.

The change will come into place on 2 February. (Getty Stock)

"New users in the UK will no longer be able to access Aylo’s content-sharing platforms, including Pornhub, YouPorn, and Redtube. UK users who have verified their age will retain access through their existing accounts."

And Alex Kekesi, Aylo’s head of community and brand, said that the company ‘initially participated in the act’ because: “We wanted to believe that a determined and prepared regulator in Ofcom could take poor legislation and manage to enforce compliance in a meaningful way, while offering more privacy-preserving age assurance methods than we’d seen in other jurisdictions.”

He said that the act has ‘failed’ and concluded: “We cannot continue to operate within a system that, in our view, fails to deliver on its promise of child safety, and has had the opposite impact. We believe this framework in practice has diverted traffic to darker, unregulated corners of the internet, and has also jeopardised the privacy and personal data of UK citizens."

Per the BBC, Ofcom said: “Porn services have a choice between using age checks to protect users as required under the Act, or to block access to their sites in the UK.”