Pornhub might be one of the the world's most visited websites, but that dominance has taken a sudden hit in the UK. Just two weeks after strict age verification checks became mandatory in the country, the site's traffic has been cut almost in half, losing more than a million visits.
According to Similarweb data (via Financial Times), Pornhub's visits fell by 47% between July 24 and August 8, dropping from an average of 3.2 million daily visits in July to 2 million in early August.
"As we've seen in many jurisdictions around the world, there is often a drop in traffic for compliant sites and an increase in traffic for non-compliant sites," Pornhub told the Financial Times. XVideos saw a similar 47% decline, while xHamster traffic fell 39% in the same period.
<social>https://x.com/Ofcom/status/1950846827017716058</social>
The rules, enforced by Ofcom, require adult sites to verify users' ages through ID uploads, credit card details, or facial scans. The move has coincided with a surge in VPN use in the UK, raising questions about how much traffic has shifted abroad.
While major sites like Pornhub have implemented the checks, some smaller, non-compliant sites have seen traffic rise. Ofcom is now investigating four companies operating over 30 porn sites for possible non-compliance.
The Online Safety Act aims to block under-18s from accessing pornographic and other harmful material online, but its rollout has sparked privacy concerns and free speech debates. What do you think about this measure?