Pornhub, the world's most visited porn site, announced a 77% decrease in UK traffic since the introduction of stricter age verification checks under the Online Safety Act in July. Parent company Aylo claims this has not achieved its goal of protecting minors but has instead diverted users to "darker, unregulated corners of the internet." This move by compliant sites has inadvertently benefited non-compliant platforms, which have seen a surge in traffic.
According to data from Similarweb, a digital market intelligence company, daily visits to Pornhub from the UK plummeted from 3.6 million on July 24th to 1.9 million by August 8th, a 47% reduction. Other popular sites like XVideos and xHamster experienced similar declines of 47% and 39% respectively. In response to the ongoing challenges, Pornhub will restrict access for new UK users starting February 2nd, with only pre-existing account holders able to access content.
Ofcom, the UK regulator, maintains that the new laws are fulfilling their purpose of preventing children from easily encountering inappropriate material. They noted that overall visits to pornography sites in the UK have decreased by almost a third in the three months following the July implementation. While some users may be utilizing VPNs to circumvent the age checks, Ofcom data shows that VPN use for general purposes has decreased since an initial surge.
However, Aylo's Head of Community and Brand, Alex Kekesi, argues the Online Safety Act has failed, stating that while legal and regulated porn sites like theirs face restrictions, thousands of "irresponsible porn sites" remain easily accessible. This concern is echoed by Dr. Hanne Stegeman from the University of Exeter, who suggests that privacy-conscious individuals may be using VPNs, and others are shifting to sites without age verification. Some reports indicate an 1,800% surge in VPN app downloads immediately after the age checks were implemented.
Despite the challenges, Ofcom data indicates that the top 10 most popular adult sites, representing a quarter of all UK visits, have implemented age assurance. Furthermore, over 75% of daily traffic to the top 100 most popular sites is directed towards those with age verification in place, suggesting a degree of compliance within the broader adult entertainment industry.
