Visits to Pornhub in the UK have fallen by 77% compared to July following the introduction of stricter age verification for adult websites under the Online Safety Act (OSA), the company said. The firm suggests that sites that don’t comply with the new rules gain an advantage.
According to data from Google, searches for the world’s most popular adult site, which ranks 19th overall among all sites, based on Similarweb data, have almost halved since the law was introduced, the BBC report noted.
According to the OSA, anyone in the UK who wants to access adult websites must now verify they are over 18 using methods such as facial recognition.
The company’s statement is the latest sign that people in the UK are changing their online habits since OSA came into force.
What is the Online Safety Act?
OSA’s main focus is to make the internet a safer place for UK users, especially children. It sets out a range of laws and obligations that online platforms must comply with, with Ofcom, the media regulator, overseeing their implementation and enforcement.
Under the Children’s Codes, platforms must prevent young users from being exposed to harmful material related to suicide, self-harm, eating disorders and pornography under the Children’s Codes. This means that certain services, particularly adult websites, will start verifying the age of UK visitors.
What did Ofcom say?
Ofcom, the media regulator, said overall traffic to pornographic sites in the UK fell by almost a third in the three months to 25 July. The regulator said the new legislation achieves its main aim of preventing children from “easily coming across porn without looking for it”.
Ofcom told the BBC it estimated daily VPN use in the UK rose to around 1.5 million people in July after the new law was introduced, but has since fallen to around one million.
At the same time, research by Cybernews found that over 10.7 million VPN apps were downloaded from Google Play and the Apple App Store in the UK during 2025.
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Dr. Hanne Stegeman from the University of Exeter told the BBC: “It is likely that people who do not want to verify their age or identity to access sexual content, for example due to privacy concerns, use VPNs to do so. As the location of website visitors is usually determined by IP addresses, these numbers may be inaccurate when a proportion of visitors use a VPN.”
“VPN apps climb to top of UK app store after age check launch”
Cybernews information security researcher Aras Nazarovas also mentioned that people in the UK “can and do use” VPNs. He said: “After the launch of age control, VPN apps climbed to the top of the UK App Store and at least one provider saw a 1800% increase in downloads. So part of Pornhub’s ‘missing’ UK audience hasn’t disappeared – it’s reclassified as non-UK traffic.”
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Ofcom figures show that all 10 of the most visited adult websites have age protection measures in place, accounting for a quarter of all visits to these sites in the UK. It also notes that more than three-quarters of the top 100 adult websites’ daily traffic comes from those that have implemented age verification.
The government has reportedly defended the regulator, saying protecting children online remains a “top priority” for ministers. It said: “Where the evidence shows that further intervention is needed to protect children, we will not hesitate to act,” the statement added.
Key things
- According to data from Google, searches for Pornhub reportedly increased by almost half after the law was implemented.
- OSA’s main focus is to make the internet a safer place for UK users, especially children.
- Ofcom, the media regulator, said overall traffic to pornographic sites in the UK fell by almost a third in the three months to 25 July.
