LOS ANGELES — Pornhub parent company Aylo told XBIZ on Monday that a recent report claiming the site will use a “loophole” to sidestep age verification requirements under the U.K.’s Online Safety Act is “misleading,” and that the company will always ensure its sites are compliant.
The politically conservative U.K. newspaper The Telegraph last week published a sensationalistic report claiming that Pornhub “has said that it would not be covered” by age verification requirements under the OSA, on the grounds that the site does not qualify as a “provider of pornographic content” under OSA rules as they are being implemented by U.K. media regulator Ofcom.
“The world’s biggest porn website will be able to avoid imminent age checks across its adult websites,” the Telegraph article reads.
The story has since been picked up by other news outlets.
Aylo confirmed to XBIZ that it expects to be classified under Part 3 of the OSA, rather than under Part 5, since it publishes user-generated content. However, such classification does not constitute avoidance of provider obligations.
A quote from Ofcom in the same article even mentions Pornhub by name in clarifying that “the ‘Part 5’ duties for pornography providers due to come into force in January largely covered premium pay sites and that the majority of online pornography services accessed in Britain, such as Pornhub, would be covered by later rules covering child safety.”
On Friday, Ofcom posted information clarifying what kinds of services are required to comply with each section of the OSA, and when.
“Platforms that publish their own pornographic content (Part 5 services) must take immediate steps to start introducing highly effective age assurance measures, in line with our guidance,” the update reads. “Sites that allow user-generated pornographic content (Part 3 services) must carry out assessments to confirm whether under-18s are able to access content on their platforms.”
Belying The Telegraph's slant on the story, the Ofcom statement adds that by July 2025, all platforms must have “a highly effective age assurance solution in place to protect under-18s. This is the case whether a service publishes its own pornographic content or allows user-generated pornographic content.”
Aylo told XBIZ, “We are monitoring developments and will always ensure our sites are compliant.”
As XBIZ reported, age verification is listed among the U.K. government’s priorities for its implementation of the OSA.