Pornhub has said it will block access to all UK users that haven’t already generated an account on 2 February due to the “failed” Online Safety Act (OSA).

Online platforms were given until July last year to adhere to new age verification rules under the OSA or face the prospect of fines. But while many larger porn sites quickly implemented the system to stay compliant, lesser-known sites chose to flout the rules in order to capture internet traffic from users that did not want to sign up for an account.

After the implication of the new rules, use of VPNs (virtual private networks) surged in the UK as they allow users to access the sites from other countries with less stringent regulations.

Aylo, Pornhub’s parent company that also owns sites including RedTube, Tube8 and YouPorn, said it would no longer participate in “the failed system that has been created in the United Kingdom”.

The firm said that by pushing users towards sites choosing not to stick to the regulations, the OSA had actually made the internet more dangerous for minors and adults while potentially jeopardising the privacy of UK citizens.

Alex Kekesi, vice-president for brand and community at Aylo, said: “Our library of thoroughly moderated and consensual adult entertainment, on one of the most trusted adult sites in the world, will be restricted. 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.

“Aylo initially participated in the OSA because we wanted to believe that a determined and prepared regulator in Ofcom could take poor legislation and manage to enforce compliance in a meaningful way, while offering more privacy preserving age assurance methods than we’d seen in other jurisdictions. 

“Despite the clear intent of the law to restrict minors’ access to adult content and commitment to enforcement, after six months of implementation, our experience strongly suggests that the OSA has failed to achieve that objective. We cannot continue to operate within a system that, in our view, fails to deliver on its promise of child safety, and has had the opposite impact.”

Aylo met with the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology in October to express its concerns about the law’s vulnerabilities. The firm said it advocated for a “device-based solution” instead of the current system that has been implemented.

Such a solution would see smartphones and laptops verify the user’s age once on the device itself through the operating system or a trusted platform instead of relying on each individual website for verification.

Aylo claimed that more than half of the sites found in the top 10 Google and Bing search results for “free porn” linked to sites that lacked any form of age verification altogether. Furthermore, the specific sites keep changing as regulators catch up with those that are non-compliant. 

An Ofcom spokesperson said on Tuesday: “Porn 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.”