Pornhub and sister sites blocked in the UK due to Online Safety Act

Adult content giant Aylo will restrict access to its content-sharing platforms, including Pornhub, RedTube, and YouPorn, in the United Kingdom beginning February 2, 2026.

The decision follows the company’s growing concerns about the effectiveness and privacy implications of the UK’s Online Safety Act (OSA), which mandates age verification for adult websites.

In a detailed public statement, Aylo’s Vice President of Brand and Community, Alex Kekesi, stated that after six months of attempting to comply with the new regulatory framework, the company has concluded that the OSA not only fails to prevent minors from accessing adult content but also drives users toward riskier, unregulated platforms. Aylo’s move represents one of the most significant pushbacks to the UK’s online safety regime from a major platform.

Aylo, headquartered in Nicosia, Cyprus, operates one of the world’s largest networks of adult content sites, with Pornhub alone attracting millions of monthly users globally. Over the years, the firm has attempted to position itself as a responsible operator within the adult content space by introducing uploader verification systems and human moderation processes. The company initially cooperated with UK authorities to meet the OSA’s requirements, including age-assurance measures, and hoped for a privacy-respecting implementation by the regulator, Ofcom.

However, Aylo claims that the OSA has had the opposite effect. According to their internal data and market observations, age verification requirements have pushed UK users toward more obscure, potentially dangerous platforms that lack moderation or compliance safeguards. Aylo warns that this shift not only undermines the OSA’s child protection goals but also introduces heightened risks of encountering illegal or exploitative material.

The company also emphasized that the OSA, in its current form, compromises user privacy, claiming that the UK’s implementation offers no meaningful safeguards for the handling of sensitive personal data, such as biometric or identity information used during the age verification process. Aylo instead advocated a device-level solution, such as built-in parental controls that set default restrictions on adult content for minor accounts without requiring external verification systems.

VPNs restricted too

Last week, the House of Lords voted in favor of Amendment 92 of the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill, extending age assurance obligations to virtual private network (VPN) providers. This amendment mandates that any VPN service marketed in or accessible from the UK must deploy “highly effective” age verification systems to prevent access by users under 18. In practice, this means that UK residents seeking to bypass geoblocks using VPNs may soon find their circumvention tools subject to the same surveillance and compliance requirements as mainstream platforms.

While Aylo notes that many users already circumvent restrictions via VPNs, which saw a surge in uptake following the introduction of OSA, the new legislative framework could make that avenue far more difficult or legally risky. If enforced, VPN providers will be required to determine users’ ages before granting access, introducing a compliance burden that contradicts the privacy-centric design of such services. Ofcom is expected to publish guidance for VPN operators, but implementation and enforcement remain unresolved.

The convergence of these developments suggests that the UK is heading toward a tightly regulated internet, where privacy-preserving tools like VPNs are no longer immune from state-mandated identity checks.