The UK’s communications regulator, Ofcom, has launched an investigation into the most well-known tube site, Pornhub.
The investigation, which opened Sept. 22 and was publicly announced yesterday, is under the country’s age-verification law, the Online Safety Act. It requires explicit websites (and some non-explicit websites that contain content that is deemed “restricted to adults,” such as about addiction) to install robust age checks that require inputting personal data, like a government ID, to pass.
The Online Safety Act went into effect in July 2025, and Pornhub stated ahead of the enactment that it would comply with the law. But in Jan. 2026, Pornhub stated that it would restrict access to unverified users due to the Online Safety Act’s failures, including the presence of noncompliant sites. In May, however, Pornhub restored access for any adult who confirms their age through Apple’s UK age-verification process — a new capability as of iOS 26.4.
This process is device-level age-verification, which is what Pornhub and other industry leaders have been calling for for years. Rather than verifying age each time someone wants to visit a certain website (which might mean repeatedly uploading sensitive information), device-level verification is one-time only and takes place on (in this case) one’s iPhone. Advocates for device-level age verification state that it’s less invasive and risky from a privacy and security standpoint. And, it doesn’t impede free speech rights, advocates say.
A ‘welcome’ investigation
Now, Ofcom will investigate Aylo, Pornhub’s parent company, to determine whether it has complied with the Online Safety Act. Specifically, Ofcom will look into whether Pornhub uses highly effective age assurance to prevent children from seeing porn, and it will also conduct a children’s access assessment.
“Online age checks are a vital protection to prevent children from encountering inappropriate or harmful material, including pornography,” Ofcom’s director of enforcement, George Lusty, stated in Ofcom’s announcement. “We expect tech firms to ensure age checks are highly effective before introducing them. Anything less could leave children at risk.”
“We actually really welcome this,” vice president of brand and community at Pornhub, Alex Kekesi, told Mashabe in a phone interview. “We’ve done our due diligence.”
Kekesi stated that there’s no 100 percent, bulletproof solution, but Pornhub is confident that Apple’s process is the best, as of today. She told Mashable that Pornhub embraces this investigation and intends to be transparent and public about how it’s going, its data and findings, and its interactions with Ofcom.
“We have over 130 million daily visitors,” she said. “We’re the perfect testing ground if you have anything really that stands to actually work to protect kids and to keep them off of age-inappropriate platforms.”
Verified adults in the UK don’t have to worry — Pornhub will function in the country as usual, Kekesi said.
In Kekesi’s statement on Aylo’s website, she mentioned that less than five percent of consumers go through age-verification for adult content, according to the adult industry trade organization, the Free Speech Coalition. Viewers — whether of age or not — can circumvent platform-based age checks by using VPNs or visiting noncompliant websites.
Ofcom itself acknowledged the shortcomings of the Online Safety Act, including the use of VPNs and noncompliant websites, in a report released a year after its enactment. In Nov. 2025, Pornhub urged tech giants Microsoft, Apple, and Google to enable device-level age verification and recently sent a letter to U.S. lawmakers calling for mandates that they do so.
This isn’t the first inquiry of its kind. In Feb. 2026, the UK fined porn company 8579 LLC £1.35 million for lack of age verification following an investigation.
