Aylo, the parent company behind some of the world’s largest adult-content platforms, including Pornhub, said Tuesday that it will block access to its sites in the United Kingdom starting February 2.
The move follows the rollout of the UK’s Online Safety Act (OSA), which requires websites hosting pornographic material to verify that users are over 18 before allowing access to content deemed unsuitable for minors. Pornhub and other Aylo-owned sites had been operating in compliance with the law since last year.
Rather than continue complying with the OSA’s age-verification requirements, Aylo said it will instead restrict access to its platforms entirely for UK users. The exception will be users who have already completed identity verification, who will still be able to access their accounts.
“Despite the clear intent of the law to restrict minors’ access to adult content and commitment to enforcement, after six months of implementation, our experience strongly suggests that the OSA has failed to achieve that objective,” Aylo said in a statement. The company argued that the framework has instead pushed users toward “darker, unregulated corners of the internet” and has placed UK residents’ privacy and personal data at risk.
The UK communications regulator Ofcom, which oversees enforcement of the OSA, rejected Aylo’s assessment of the law.
“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 U.K.,” Ofcom said in a statement to TechCrunch. The regulator added that there is nothing preventing technology companies from developing device-level age-verification solutions and urged the industry to pursue such options if they can demonstrate strong effectiveness.
Age-verification technology has proven controversial worldwide. While child safety advocates say stronger controls are necessary to limit minors’ exposure to explicit content, privacy groups warn that many cloud-based verification systems collect highly sensitive personal data, creating risks for adult users.
Aylo said it has seen similar outcomes in other regions. “In other jurisdictions, Aylo has often been one of the only major platforms to comply, only to see traffic diverted to even larger, non-compliant sites,” the company said. Although non-compliant sites are supposed to face penalties under the OSA, Aylo claimed that, so far, only the forum 4chan has been fined.
Ofcom disputed that claim as well. “We’ve taken strong and swift action against non-compliance, launching investigations into more than 80 porn sites and fining a porn provider £1 million, with more to come,” the regulator said.
Aylo’s decision in the UK mirrors its approach to age-verification laws in parts of the United States. The company has blocked access to its sites in several U.S. states where similar requirements are in place, citing concerns that age-verification software increases the risk of data breaches.
Those concerns stem from past incidents. Pornhub was previously affected by a breach at analytics provider Mixpanel, which exposed information linked to some Pornhub Premium subscribers. Reports indicated the compromised data included email addresses, locations, viewing history, search terms, and timestamps showing when users accessed the site.
