Pornhub has disclosed that its UK visitor numbers have plummeted by 77% since the introduction of strict age-verification requirements under the Online Safety Act (OSA) in July 2025.
While the BBC noted that these figures have not been independently audited, search data from Google appears to corroborate the trend, showing that UK-based queries for the site have nearly halved.
The plummeting traffic coincides with a new legal mandate requiring sexually explicit platforms to implement “highly effective” age checks – such as facial estimation or government-verified ID – to prevent minors from accessing adult content.
Industry analysts and the regulator, Ofcom, suggest that the “missing” traffic is likely being redirected through two primary channels. First, the use of Virtual Private Networks (VPNs) has surged, with some providers reporting a 1,800% increase in UK downloads immediately following the law’s enforcement; this masks a user’s true location, often reclassifying UK traffic as coming from another country.
Second, Pornhub’s parent company, Aylo, claims that users are migrating to thousands of smaller, non-compliant websites that ignore the rules, thereby gaining an unfair competitive advantage while potentially exposing users to less-regulated and riskier content.
Despite these workarounds, Ofcom has defended the legislation, stating that overall visits to pornography sites in the UK have fallen by approximately one-third. The regulator maintains that the law is fulfilling its core mission of ending the “age-blind internet” and preventing children from accidentally stumbling upon explicit material.
While Aylo continues to lobby for age verification to be handled at the device or browser level rather than by individual sites, the UK government has reiterated that protecting children remains a top priority and has threatened non-compliant platforms with fines of up to 10% of their global revenue.
