From 24 July to 8 August 2025, spanning the introduction of the Online Safety Act’s age-verification rules, daily visits to Pornhub fell by 47%, from about 3.6 million to 1.9 million. XVideos recorded a similar fall.

The legislation, enforced by Ofcom from 25 July, requires adult-content platforms to implement “highly effective” age checks such as facial age estimation, photo ID matching, credit card verification, or digital identity wallets, with the aim of preventing under-18s from accessing explicit material.

Ofcom maintains the rules protect young people while safeguarding free expression and warns that non-compliance could result in fines of up to £18 million or 10% of global turnover, as well as potential site blocking. Critics note that other platforms like Reddit and X have not experienced comparable drops in UK traffic despite introducing similar measures.

VPN usage has surged, with some services reaching the top of the UK iOS download charts, enabling users to bypass the checks by masking their location. Analysts also estimate there have been around 5 million additional age-verification checks each day since enforcement began, with some users turning to smaller, less regulated adult websites