Online Safety Act irks UK porn users, US State Department

Traffic to regulated UK porn sites has shrunk dramatically, losing nearly 50 percent of its tumescence since age check laws took effect in late July as part of the Online Safety Act. 

Data from the analytics firm Similarweb published in the Financial Times says traffic to Pornhub, the UK’s most-visited porn site, fell from 3.6 million on July 24, one day before age-gating was introduced, to 1.9 million on August 8 – a plunge of 47 percent. The second most popular site, XVideos, also lost 47 percent of its users in the same period. The third, XHamster, lost 39 percent. 

Porn providers say a corresponding “dramatic” spike in traffic to noncompliant porn sites, as well as a surge in downloads of Virtual Private Networks (VPNs), effectively brings to bear the worst-case scenarios they predicted. Pornhub, in particular, has been frank about how compliance with online age check regulations affects their numbers.

The issue is typically framed as a matter of data privacy or free speech, with the latter being a favorite talking point for U.S. politicians. This week, the U.S. State Department downgraded the UK’s status in its annual Country Reports on Human Rights Practices, alleging that the OSA has led to “serious restrictions on freedom of expression.” It echoes similar comments from Vice President J.D. Vance, made at the Munich Security Conference in February. 

The free speech claims are in part being made on behalf of U.S. tech firms that don’t want to have to comply with UK laws. They also help divert attention from the various ways in which the Trump administration has strangled free speech, from suing universities to deporting people for writing op-eds to banning the Associated Press from briefings after it refused to change how it referred to the Gulf of Mexico to suit the president’s whims.

The data privacy concerns have more merit. But compliant digital ID providers that are fit for purpose shouldn’t have honey pots of stored data stashed away, anyhow; most try to delete sensitive personal information as quickly as possible, to reduce liability. 

The unspoken factor in the debate – and perhaps the most powerful – is shame. 

While porn sites are among the internet’s most visited websites, users are afraid of anything that could associate them with an activity that is still socially coded as immoral and perverted. “We promise to protect your data” is one thing when it is a question of hosting photos of friends and foodstuffs. The stakes change when there is a risk of being branded as a social deviant for getting off on stepmom videos or granny porn – exactly the sort of stuff that makes people afraid to show their face in public. 

Article Topics

age verification  |  data privacy  |  Online Safety Act  |  U.S. Government  |  UK age verification  |  VPN (virtual private network)