Pornhub is set to limit access for users in the UK from February, blaming what it describes as the "failed system" brought about by the Online Safety Act.
New users will no longer be able to access the site from February 2. But people who have already registered and verified their age will still be able to use Pornhub.
The change follows updates to the Online Safety Act (OSA) introduced in July last year, which require websites hosting pornographic material to implement robust age-verification measures to prevent children from viewing harmful content.
Aylo, the Canadian adult entertainment company that owns the stie, said the change made the internet more dangerous for minors and adults" and "jeopardises the privacy and personal data of UK citizens".
The company said it would "no longer participate in the failed system that has been created in the United Kingdom as a result of the OSA's introduction".
Earlier this month, research suggested that almost half of adult pornography users had accessed websites without age checks since the new rules were introduced.
A survey by the Lucy Faithfull Foundation (LFF) found that 45 per cent of the 1,469 respondents who use pornography had deliberately visited sites without age verification since July to avoid sharing personal data.
Alex Kekesi, Aylo's vice president of brand and community, said: "Our sites, which host legal and regulated porn, will no longer be available in the UK to new users, but thousands of irresponsible porn sites will still be easy to access.
"Despite the clear intent of the law to restrict minors' access to adult content, and commitment to enforcement, after six months of implementation, our experience strongly suggests that the OSA has failed to achieve that objective.
"We cannot continue to operate within a system that, in our view, fails to deliver on its promise of child safety, and has had the opposite impact.
"We believe this framework in practice has diverted traffic to darker, unregulated corners of the internet, and has also jeopardised the privacy and personal data of UK citizens."
Ms Kekesi said Ofcom had been "given an impossible mandate" and that it was "too big a challenge for any regulator to execute within the parameters of the Act".
Figures show that as of January 27, 2026, 68 of the UK’s top 100 pornography services had implemented age checks.
Responding, an Ofcom spokesperson said: "Porn services have a choice between using age checks to protect users as required under the Act, or to block access to their sites in the UK.
"There's nothing to stop technology providers from developing solutions which work at the device level, and we would urge the industry to get on with that if they can evidence it is highly effective.
"Our job is to enforce the rules as they stand. We've put in place age assurance rules that are flexible and proportionate, and we have seen widespread adoption.
"We've taken strong and swift action against non-compliance, launching investigations into more than 80 porn sites and fining a porn provider £1 million, with more to come.
"We will continue our dialogue with Aylo to understand this change to its position.”
