Pornhub is set to block new UK users rather than continuing to comply with age verification rules.
The adult site has announced that, on 2 February, UK users trying to access it and other similar sites owned by parent company Aylo will be blocked from seeing any of the sites’ content.
According to Aylo, the law change last July introducing age verification rules caused traffic to Pornhub, the UK’s largest porn website, to fall by 77 per cent. Industry regulator Ofcom has the ability to fine companies up to £18 million for breaching the rules.
Difficult decision
Head of Community and Brand at Aylo, Alex Kekesi, said it was a “difficult decision” to take, adding: “Our sites, which host legal and regulated porn, will no longer be available in the UK to new users, but thousands of irresponsible porn sites will still be easy to access.”
Aylo criticised the new rule, saying it has “not achieved its goal of protecting minors” but has instead “diverted traffic to darker, unregulated corners of the internet”.
In late 2020, Pornhub removed about 10 million of its videos following accusations it was hosting material with child sex abuse and non-consensual sexual behaviour.
Robust rules
An Ofcom spokesperson stated: “We’ve put in place age assurance rules that are flexible and proportionate, and we have seen widespread adoption”.
The spokesperson added: “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”.
A spokesperson for the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology, commented: “The Online Safety Act is clear: online pornographic services must stop children accessing this material by putting robust age assurance in place.
“It does not stop adults viewing legal content, and services do not need to leave the UK – they simply need to ensure under 18s cannot access it.”
Protecting children
Emma Drake, a partner at Bird and Bird law firm, said research that suggested adults were seeking riskier porn sites following the new rules also showed an overall decrease in the use of porn sites and said the same “must be true of children”.
Drake explained: “The determined will find alternative routes, like the VPNs or the new entrants Aylo mentioned, but adding barriers to the most well-known sites can still protect a very large number of children who won’t make that effort.”
Angus Saul, Head of Communications for the Institute said: “Porn is bad for children and adults and is a blight on our nation. It is no bad thing that the biggest distributor of explicit material is leaving the UK.”
VPNs
When age verification rules came into place, downloads for Virtual Private Networks (VPNs), which allow users to circumvent location rules, skyrocketed.
Dr Chelsea Jarvie, a cyber security expert, explained: “Virtual Private Networks continue to offer a workaround which is why protecting children online requires layered controls rather than reliance on any single measure”.
This week, Peers voted to add an amendment to the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill which would ban VPNs for under-18s.
Lord Nash stated: “This is going to happen. The only question is when. We have the opportunity to do it now in this Bill, and every day which passes, more damage is being done to children. We must act now.”
Peers: ‘Online glorification of child sex abuse must end’