Pornhub will soon be blocked for UK users — unless they take one step

Pornhub's parent company, Aylo, announced today that it is restricting the porn site in the UK come Feb. 2. Any adult who has already verified their age will still be able to use that site after that date, but no one else will.

The decision comes around six months after the enaction of the Online Safety Act, the UK's age-verification law. When the law went into effect, Pornhub announced it would comply with the law due to working with a regulator (Ofcom, UK's Office of Communication) and less intrusive methods of age assurance.

Over time, however, Aylo identified failures with the Online Safety Act, namely non-compliant porn sites. There's also the ability to circumvent the law by the use of VPNs. Meanwhile, Pornhub's traffic has taken a nosedive in the territory, announcing in October it has dropped by 77 percent.

Now, Aylo announced that it'll restrict Pornhub and its other free sites (like RedTube and YouPorn) as of Feb. 2. If UK visitors haven't verified their age on the sites by then, the sites will be blocked. Users will instead see a written message (similar to what users in France see). For its paid sites, users will still be able to use them because credit card information is seen as a form of age assurance.

In a press conference today, Aylo representatives advocated for device-level filters, which block all websites registered as RTA, or "Restricted to Adults." Aylo has pushed this solution to keep minors of its sites for years, and free speech experts Mashable has spoken to regarding age-verification laws have also discussed them.

Back in November, Aylo sent letters to Apple, Google, and Microsoft urging them to enable these filters.