Uk Age Verification Rules Slash Traffic To Major Adult Sites on OnlyLikeFans

Traffic Nosedive for Adult Giants

Hold onto your hats, folks - the UK’s latest online safety rules are shaking up the adult content world big time. According to data gurus at Similarweb, traffic to major adult sites like Pornhub has taken a massive hit since enhanced age verification checks rolled out on July 25. The new regulations, part of the Online Safety Act, aim to keep explicit material out of reach for anyone under 18, but they’re clearly changing how users access these platforms.

Comparing daily averages from July to the first nine days of August, Similarweb found Pornhub - the UK’s top adult content destination - lost over a million visitors. That’s a jaw-dropping 47% drop between July 24 and August 8. And they’re not alone; XVideos mirrored that 47% plunge, while OnlyFans, the creator-driven subscription platform, saw a still-significant 10% dip.

Daily visits to Pornhub specifically plummeted from 3.2 million in July to just 2 million in early August. It’s a stark reminder of how policy changes can ripple through the digital landscape overnight.

Smaller Sites and VPNs Gain Traction

But here’s the twist - not everyone’s losing out. While the big players grapple with compliance, some smaller, less-regulated adult sites are actually seeing a spike in visitors. It’s a classic case of users finding workarounds when the main doors get tougher to open.

"We’ve noticed a pattern globally - compliant sites often lose traffic while non-compliant ones see gains," a Pornhub spokesperson told the BBC.

Meanwhile, VPN apps have surged to the top of Apple’s App Store downloads in the UK since the rules kicked in. These tools mask a user’s location, letting them browse as if they’re in another country, which makes tracking local traffic a nightmare for data collectors. It’s a sneaky - but popular - way to dodge the new barriers.

What’s Behind the UK’s New Rules?

So, what’s driving this digital crackdown? The UK’s Online Safety Act is all about protecting younger internet users from adult content, and media regulator Ofcom is steering the ship. With an estimated 14 million Brits consuming online pornography, the stakes are high to get this right.

Age verification methods now include everything from credit card checks to photo ID matching and even selfie-based age estimation. It’s a robust lineup, but critics warn there’s a dark side - pushing users toward shadier, more extreme corners of the web, like the dark web, where rules are nonexistent.

Whether these measures will safeguard kids or just shift the problem elsewhere remains the million-dollar question. For now, the numbers don’t lie - the adult content landscape in the UK is undergoing a serious makeover.