Ofcom has launched an investigation into Pornhub proprietor, Aylo, over whether or not the location’s new age checks are successfully stopping kids from accessing grownup content material.
The regulator stated in Could that Pornhub began utilizing a brand new age verification course of for some customers, which depends on a 3rd social gathering, on this case Apple.
It stated it had considerations that Aylo “might not have performed ample due diligence and testing” earlier than implementing this new course of, and so it “will not be extremely efficient” at stopping kids from seeing pornography.
Beneath the UK’s On-line Security Act (OSA), websites that host pornographic materials should use extremely efficient age assurance to make sure whether or not a consumer is over 18.
The BBC has approached Aylo for remark.
Ofcom says as a part of its investigation it’ll think about how Aylo implements its age verification processes and whether or not it performed the “vital due diligence” earlier than it was carried out.
It is not going to examine how Apple operates its age checks.
George Lusty, Ofcom’s Director of Enforcement, stated: “On-line age checks are a significant safety to stop kids from encountering inappropriate or dangerous materials, together with pornography.
“We anticipate tech corporations to make sure age checks are extremely efficient earlier than introducing them. Something much less may go away kids in danger.”
Beneath the On-line Security Act, Ofcom holds the facility to tremendous non-compliant firms as much as £18 million or 10% of their annual world turnover, whichever is bigger.
This probe is simply the most recent conflict between the regulator and what is without doubt one of the world’s most considered porn websites.
In October 2025 Pornhub said site visitors from UK customers had plunged by greater than 75% following the introduction of extra strong age checks by the OSA.
Some have questioned whether or not individuals have been merely utilizing Digital Personal Networks (VPN) to get across the checks as a substitute.
In January, Pornhub announced it might limit entry to its web site within the UK, blaming the harder checks, with solely individuals who had beforehand made a Pornhub account in a position to entry its content material.
Aylo stated that updates to the Act requiring age verification had “not achieved its objective of defending minors” and had “diverted site visitors to darker, unregulated corners of the web”.
Nevertheless, in Could, it said it might be making the location obtainable once more for some UK Apple customers who had confirmed their age with the corporate’s most modern model of iOS, its cell working system.
