Pornhub to introduce ‘government approved’ UK age checks

Aylo, the owner of adult sites Pornhub, YouPorn and RedTube, says it will introduce “government approved age assurance methods” in the UK.

The company has not yet revealed how it will require users to prove they are over 18, but UK regulator Ofcom says simply clicking a button, which is all the adult site currently requires, is not enough.

Pornhub has resisted age checks elsewhere, including in France – where it recently suspended its site amid a battle over the country’s age verification rules.

Under the Online Safety Act pornographic sites must introduce “robust” age checking techniques, such as demanding photo ID or running credit card checks for UK users, by this summer.

Aylo said it would introduce the new methods to check user ages on its sites by 25 July.

Pornhub is the most visited porn site in the world, according to data from Similarweb.

It has been under scrutiny by regulators worldwide over its measures to prevent children accessing its content.

The European Commission announced an investigation into Pornhub, along with two other adult platforms, at the end of May.

In the UK, Ofcom is probing several adult sites it believes may be failing to abide by its child safety rules.

In a statement, Aylo’s vice president of brand and community Alex Kekesi said Ofcom presented a variety of flexible methods of age assurance that were less intrusive than those it had seen in other jurisdictions.

“Ofcom recognises the scale of the challenge ahead and is approaching it with thorough consideration,” he said.

The regulator’s model is “the most robust in terms of actual and meaningful protection we’ve seen to date,” he added.

“When governments and regulators engage with industry in good faith, the outcome is not just better compliance, it’s smarter, more effective solutions”.

But the statement does not yet reveal what methods the site will actually employ to check users ages.

Ofcom has been approached for comment.