As of February 2, PornHub will start restricting access to UK users.
This is a companion discussion topic for the original entry at https://www.privacyguides.org/news/2026/01/29/pornhub-withdraws-from-uk-over-online-safety-act
This is a companion discussion topic for the original entry at https://www.privacyguides.org/news/2026/01/29/pornhub-withdraws-from-uk-over-online-safety-act
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Will it work? 4chan also IP-banned UK users, yet they still got fined by Ofcom
Probably not to stop the fines if the UK decides to fine them. Like 4chan, I’m not sure what jurisdiction the UK actually has over PornHub though.
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The British Commonwealth? PH is Canada based. That’s the only connection I can think of.
I want to say that I agree with this one in the name of the mental health of porn addicts and teens, but still fucked up shit. 
Aylo has been advocating for device-based verification rather than requiring services to handle user data, arguing that it is more effective and safer
Thoughts on this? Id detest government-mandated age verification software running on my personal device, but there’s a case to be made that it’s more secure than trusting some remote megacorpo database to protect PII until the sun explodes
It goes without saying, no government-mandated age verification is the preferred solution
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I’d rather do it once than on every service I use. I’m not sure how that works though I haven’t seen any age verification using something like that in the wild yet.
Check this out - Play seems to be rolling out an age prediction API based on your local device content. Just stumbled across this earlier on another forum
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Are they also going to block the US states that require ID?
I’d rather we return to parents parenting their kids instead of the government.
Parental controls have existed even in the 90s. This is ridiculous and it’s saddening to see even people on this forum appeasing this authoritarian overstep.
Its also almost like parents don’t need to be buying their kids a bazillion internet devices. I have yet to hear a valid reason why kids can’t get by with a dumbphone and a locked down desktop for schoolwork with parental controls for truly concerned parents.
If I had a kid, I’d give them a blank desktop, a library card, and tell them to install Arch or Gentoo. If they can manage to get it working, they can watch as much internet porn as they want. After that, make it more interesting by threatening to hack their computer, online accounts, etc and that I’ll show everyone the stuff I find. Then watch my porn obsessed depraved kid become a privacy and security superstar. That’s called parenting!
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Being part of the Commonwealth is just a political thing. The UK doesn’t control or govern Canada anymore.
Yes, I am aware. I was joking.
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They already do.
Seems like a privacy law could get it done. Post office can sell a “digital token” to an adult, proving age. Adult shows website token.
Website doesn’t know adult name.
Post office knows adult name and token. Maybe a law states post office can only keep name and that a token was sold, can’t by law keep token itself.
A law saying a warrant is needed for post office to release name?
That’s not a sufficient solution, since the token could still be used to track activity, even if the person behind it initially is not known. You would need a solution which proofs your age, without allowing to track you. Basically unlinkabilty.
i hate when they pull out, just ruins it for me
How about not giving the government an immutable record of our browsing history.
There is no way to do age verification and maintain anonymity from everyone including governments.
That’s just the facts. What we need are parents to actually parent their children instead of trying to get a nanny state to do it for them at the expense of everyone else’s rights.