Pornhub is now restricting access for UK users - will other sites follow suit?

When Pornhub announced last week that it would be restricting UK access, many were left wondering why.

It was one of many sites forced to bring in robust age verification measures in July 2025 under the Online Safety Act.

But the law has come under constant scrutiny, with critics pointing out it can be easily circumvented by using a virtual private network (VPN), which makes it appear you are accessing the internet from a different location.

Pornhub's parent company Aylo has claimed the law has driven people to sites not following the law and increased "exposure to dangerous or illegal content".

And from Monday 2 February, people who have not previously verified their age will not be able to access explicit material on Pornhub's UK site.

Visitors can still view some content, but attempting to watch pornographic videos prompts people to log in - something only those who signed up to the platform before Monday can do.

But some doubt whether its claims of the law's "failure" to protect children are really behind the restrictions.

After all, why give a date to get people ready for the move, rather than withdraw access immediately?

That, and whether the move is a stunt to gain more registered users, is something posed by law researcher Prof Clare McGlynn of Durham University.

She told BBC News that Pornhub's decision may be part of a plan to get politicians to take action.

"They have blocked access in many US states," she said. "Their hope is to whip up political concern, anger of the public, to try to change the law."

Pornhub has blocked access to its site in 23 US states, including Alabama, Florida and Texas, after they passed laws requiring it to verify the age of users.

Representatives for Aylo and its owner Ethical Capital Partners (ECP) have denied UK restrictions were a ploy to gain more registered users.

"Our intention here is not to drive sign-ups," Alex Kekesi, head of community and brand at Aylo, told reporters when it announced the decision.

"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."

In October, Aylo said age checks had led to a 77% fall in UK traffic to its site - although Ofcom's annual survey puts that as more of a reduction of 31%, between July and August 2025, just after age check rules took effect.

But any fall in UK traffic will not account for those using VPNs to circumvent age checks.

The number of people using VPNs in the UK is unclear.

Ofcom said in October they were used for general purposes by around a million people every day. Cybernews researchers counted more than 10.7 million downloads of VPN apps on UK mobile devices alone across 2025.

ECP's Solomon Friedman told reporters VPN use to circumvent age checks on porn sites could be resolved if device manufacturers like Apple and Google were responsible for verifying users.

Ofcom found use of VPNs - which can effectively disguise a user's location on the internet - more than doubled in the UK after age verification rules came in.

While it said the figure steadily declined after August, usage remained higher than before the changes took effect.

Internet Matters meanwhile said in December it had found no significant 'spike' in children using VPNs for the first time.

However, Prof McGlynn believes Pornhub would prefer VPN usage to having to regulate or moderate its content more, particularly as the UK looks to restrict more material.

The government recently announced plans to make online porn showing strangulation or suffocation illegal, as part of efforts to tackle violence against women and girls.

On VPNs being used to get around checks, an Aylo spokesperson previously told the BBC "we certainly do not recommend that anyone uses technology to bypass the law".

But social media expert Matt Navara says Pornhub's decision to restrict UK access may be more about creating a "legal firewall" about restrictions than a protest.

"I think blocking UK access lets Pornhub dodge some of the regulations, skip the costs and still collect the traffic from users they can no longer see," he said.

Meanwhile Lorna Woods, professor of internet law at the University of Essex, told the BBC in continuing to permit some UK users, Pornhub will still have to follow illegal content rules.

"It looks like they are trying to draw attention to what they are doing rather than anything else," she said.

Despite the law taking effect in July 2025, not every porn service in the UK has deployed age checks.

But Ofcom said the top 10 services, which includes Pornhub, have brought them in, with these accounting for a quarter of all UK visits.

More broadly, according to the regulator, age checks have been implemented by 77 of the 100 most popular porn services in the UK - adding 86% of visitors to the top 100 sites now go to ones with checks.

The figures suggest a clear rise in services asking people to prove they are an adult.

Yet it also means nearly a quarter of the UK's most popular 100 services still have not implemented checks.

Ofcom says it is nonetheless taking action and continuing to launch investigations against sites which do not comply.

In December, it fined one company £1m over its non-compliance with the law.

Meanwhile, Pornhub is seemingly hoping other platforms will take similar steps and pile pressure on lawmakers to consider alternatives to site-specific age checks.

Iain Corby of the Age Verification Providers Association (AVPA) said it does not expect others to follow suit.

"Whatever the true figures, it is clear that the highest profile adult sites did suffer the greater loss of users, as many of their previous customer base was quite impulsive," he told the BBC.

But Corby said Aylo may be "trying to drive more comprehensive enforcement" by Ofcom - something the AVPA supported.

Ofcom has not commented on any such plans, saying its job is "to enforce the rules as they stand".

But as age assurance becomes a global debate rather than simply a UK one, it is unlikely this will be the last time we see companies such as Pornhub try to take a stand, regardless of what their motives might be.

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