Pornhub users in the UK will find accessing the website will become harder once February starts.
BBC reports that Pornhub will begin restricting access to the website in the UK due to the tough age checks that have been introduced for pornographic websites. When Feb. 2 hits, only people who have made a previous Pornhub account will be able to view its content.
According to Pornhub’s parent company Aylo, updates to the UK’s Online Safety Act that require age verification had “diverted traffic to darker, unregulated corners of the internet.”
Last October, Aylo claimed that the OSA’s change led to traffic to Pornhub decreasing by 77%.
Internet regulation company Ofcom said in a statement that “pron 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” and that it would continue its dialogue with Aylo “to understand this change to its position.”
Speaking to BBC about the decision, Aylo’s head of community and brand, Alex Kekesi, claimed that the decision to restrict access in the UK was a “difficult decision.”
“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,” she said.
Pornhub’s restriction in the UK comes amidst its growing restriction by states in the United States. So far, 23 states have restricted access to the platform.