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The total number of Britons visiting Pornhub has plummeted following the introduction of the Online Safety Act. According to statistics shared by Pornhub, British visitors have fallen 77% since July, when strict age verification checks were introduced across all adult websites and services accessed from the UK.
Data from SimilarWeb, an online analytics company, also shows this dramatic drop.
While May, June, and July saw roughly 99 million visitors to Pornhub each month, those figures plummeted to just 54.3 million by September as the new age checks introduced by the Online Safety Act took effect.
Pornhub is the most popular adult website on the planet. It also ranks as the 19th most-visited website on the entire internet.
Following the introduction of tough age checks, UK visitors to some of the most-visited adult websites saw a dramatic fall — wiping out hundreds of millions of pageviews
|SIMILARWEB | GBNEWS
It's far from the only adult website that's seen a dramatic fall in its traffic in the UK since the Online Safety Act. According to data from SimilarWeb, other adult
The Online Safety Act, introduced by Conservative MP Michelle Donelan two years ago and passed by the House of Commons under Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, means anyone trying to access adult platforms must complete a strict age check.
Methods approved by Ofcom include scanning a photo ID such as a driving licence or passport, facial recognition or credit card check, to name just a few. The age checks must operate without unnecessarily storing personal data, with facial estimation tools designed to assess age without retaining images or identifying individuals.
The UK isn't the only country that has sought to restrict access to online pornography.
When you attempt to access a website that hosts restricted content, you'll need to pass the new strict age verification process, which requires uploading a selfie, credit card number, UK mobile, or other methods
| PRESS ASSOCIATIONSeveral countries have tried to compel Pornhub to check its users' ages, but the adult platform has decided to block all users in that territory rather than comply. Parent company Aylo says the UK was a different case because the Online Safety Act allows websites to offer a range of solutions, so Pornhub could choose to implement email-based checks rather than collecting biometric data on its users.
There's a debate about whether the Online Safety Act has really caused such vast amounts of online traffic to pornographic websites to vanish ...or whether it's simply moved elsewhere.
Experts believe a large number of Britons over the age 18 could be spoofing their location using a Virtual Private Network, more commonly referred to as a VPN, because of the discomfort of using a facial scan or bank account check to accesss adult websites.
If you're an adult aged over 18, but concerned about the idea of sharing personal details — like images of your passport, driving licence or other photo identification, credit card details, or facial scans — with porn websites, forums, or other adult content, you might be looking for an alternative.
Speaking to the BBC, Dr Hanne Stegeman from the University of Exeter, said: "It is likely that people not wanting to verify their age or identity to access sexual content, for example, because of privacy concerns, are using VPNs to get around this. As the location of website visitors is usually determined through IP addresses, it could be that those figures are inaccurate when a portion of visitors are using VPNs."
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CyberNews tracked over 10.7 million VPN app downloads nationwide in 2025 across the Google Play Store and Apple App Store, which offer access to apps, games, and other software for Android and iPhone, respectively.
One provider saw downloads jump by 1,400% after the age checks kicked in, with VPN apps shooting to the top of the UK App Store. In the wake of the Online Safety Act, 5 of the top 10 free apps in the App Store were VPNs.
Ofcom found that daily VPN use for general purposes peaked at 1.5 million people in July when the law launched, though it has since fallen to roughly one million.
Why the sudden interest in VPNs? Most critically-acclaimed VPNs let you choose the location of the server that will be used to re-route your internet traffic. This is what has enabled Britons aged over 18 to skip the age checks and avoid sharing a selfie or image of their passport.
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How does it work? If you choose a server based in another country, VPNs can make it appear as if you're located outside of the UK — outside of the jurisdiction of the Online Safety Act.
By picking a VPN server in another country, websites can no longer detect that you're browsing from within the UK, so the mandatory age checks and other restrictions imposed by the Online Safety Act vanish.
It's really no different to what would happen if you jumped on a plane on holiday and tried to access any of these services from abroad. It's comparable to using a foreign phone box rather than your own mobile – the recipient can't identify your true location or identity.
The age verification systems implemented under the Online Safety Act rely on websites detecting a UK-based IP address to trigger identity checks. For those who don't know, an IP address is the unique identifier assigned to every device when it connects to the internet.
Not every VPN offers this capability. For example, Apple offers its Private Relay feature as part of an iCloud+ subscription that offers some VPN functionality, but won't let subscribers choose a specific server location.
ExpressVPN is an award-winning VPN that recently overhauled its pricing plan for the first time in over a decade.
This service relies on military-grade encryption to shield everything you do online from outside surveillance. Unlike free alternatives that compromise your security, ExpressVPN maintains a strict no-logs policy, ensuring your online activities remain completely private without risk of data harvesting or exposure to cyber criminals.
Want plenty of choice when it comes to server locations? ExpressVPN operates ultra-fast servers across 105 countries worldwide, with many locations featuring 10Gbps connections that ensure you experience minimal buffering and consistent streaming quality.
The service utilises TrustedServer technology alongside proprietary Lightway protocol, delivering enhanced security and reliability whilst maintaining fast connection speeds.
You'll benefit from additional protection features, including an integrated ad blocker, Threat Manager that shields your device from malicious websites and trackers, plus ExpressVPN Keys – a built-in password manager that creates and stores unlimited passwords at no extra cost.
Virtual Private Networks, like ExpressVPN, mask your real location by routing traffic through servers in different countries, tricking services into thinking you're elsewhere | EXPRESSVPN PRESS OFFICE What is a VPN?
A Virtual Private Network (VPN) is software that protects and anonymises everything you do online. VPNs can conceal your online activities by routing traffic through an entrypted tunnel that connects to secure servers worldwide.
The most reliable VPNs employ the same encryption standard as governments in the United Kingdom and the United States, ensuring that even your Internet Service Provider (ISP) connected to Wi-Fi cannot record the websites you visit, the duration of your sessions on each site, or your current location. This protection extends to advertisers, trackers, and hackers, preventing them from monitoring your online behaviour.
Furthermore, personal information entered into online forms and sensitive data transmitted to and from your device will be safeguarded from hackers using strong encryption provided by a VPN.
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