Aylo, the parent company of Pornhub and many of the most popular adult sites in the world, announced today that starting February 2 it will restrict people visiting the site from the UK.
In a call on Tuesday, leadership at Aylo and Ethical Capital Partners (ECP), which acquired Aylo in 2023, said that after six months of complying with the UK’s Online Safety Act, it’s made the choice to restrict access in the country entirely. People who have already verified their ages with the current verification system will still be able to access those sites using login credentials, but anyone who hasn’t already done so by February 2 will be blocked entirely.
“Anyone who has not gone through that process prior to February 2 will no longer be able to access [the sites] and they're going to be met with a wall,” Alexzandra Kekesi, VP Brand and Community at Aylo, said. “Basically, their journey on our platform will start and end there.” Users on paid sites will be able to access those sites if they’re logged in; this restriction applies to Aylo’s free video sharing platforms.
“When ECP acquired Aylo in March of 2023, one of our most important commitments was to work with regulators and industry, adult and mainstream, in order to find a solution to keep minors from accessing explicit content online,” Solomon Friedman, partner and vice president of compliance at Ethical Capital Partners, said in the call. “That remains a key focus of our attention today. ECP does not wish for one single minor to be able to access adult content, not just on a levels platforms, but on any adult platforms. It unfortunately is disheartening that regulators have not been given the legislative tools that they need, and instead, have been provided with really flawed sets of laws that in some jurisdictions were never intended to succeed.”
Until now, UK-based visitors to Aylo sites have complied with the UK’s Online Safety Act by verifying ages by entering a credit card, or uploading a government ID or other identification to an age estimation system called All Pass Trust. The Online Safety Act, which took effect in 2025, is similar to many laws in US states that keep users from accessing porn unless they upload an ID or pass biometric face scanning. In the UK, the law requires sites to implement age verification or face millions of dollars in fines and jail—or up to 10 percent of global revenues, whichever is higher.
Since going into effect, the Online Safety Act has fundamentally changed how people use the internet in the UK. Right after being implemented, platforms like Reddit, Bluesky, Spotify and others have been required to verify the ages of users to various degrees and to access various types of content—not just porn sites.
“We have seen six months of failure out of the United Kingdom, once again, not because OFCOM is failing, but because the law is failing,” Friedman said. “And for that reason, from the ECP perspective, as the ownership group of Aylo, we want laws around the world that protect children.”
As part of the call, ECP and Aylo presented a demonstration of device-based age assurance, which Alyo, the adult industry, and anti-child exploitation organizations has said is a safer, more effective way to keep children from accessing adult material.
