The day of Pornhub tightening up its age-verification checks has finally come.
Yep, as of today (25 July), people seeking to access the site will have to do a whole lot more than simply tick a box to confirm they are over the age of 18 as much stricter age-verification checks will now be rolled out for its millions upon millions of users. In the UK, Ofcom estimates 14 million people watch online pornography.
However, Pornhub - while it is the most visited porn site in the whole of the UK, as well as around the world - is not alone in the major update as it's far from the site affected.
Now, for context, such a change wasn't an overnight decision.
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It's come about after years of warnings about the ease with which children can currently access adult material.
For example, media regulator Ofcom has previously pointed to recent research which indicated that as many as eight percent of children aged 8-14 in the UK had visited an online porn site or app over a 28-day period - this included about three percent of eight to nine-year-olds, the survey suggests.
Given such a frightful statistic, which accompanies a lot of other equally alarming data, commercial pornography providers must, from today, implement 'robust' age checks to stop minors from viewing explicit content.
Ofcom will oversee enforcement and companies that don’t comply risk fines of up to £18 million or 10 percent of global turnover.
OK so, other than Pornhub, which other sites will be impacted?
Well, the likes of mainstream social media sites Reddit, X, Discord and Bluesky will all feel the effects of the new change.
Reddit has employed outside firm Persona to check the age of users via two means - either through an uploaded selfie or a photo of their government ID, such as a driver's license or passport.
According to the BBC, Reddit will not have access to the photo. It will only keep record of the user's verification status and date of birth so you don't have to verify your identity every time you use their platform.
Likewise, Elon Musk's X has already mapped out the various methods it intends to use to verify users' identities.
Similar to Pornhub, these include facial age estimation, ID verification, email address-based estimation, and reverse address book median age estimation - the latter of which uses social connections to estimate age.
Discord, popular with gamers, has given users a choice between face or ID scanning as a way to check their age while X alternative, Bluesky, has stated that users can choose between credit card verification and face scans to confirm their identity.
Additionally, Grindr, along with other dating apps, have agreed to introduce their own verification steps.
However, it's important to note, this is yet to be officially confirmed.
So, you may ask, what will these new age-verification checks look like?
Well, any adults keen on accessing such material will now be subject to a 'non-exhaustive' list of technologies that may be used to verify ages with just a handful including open banking, photo ID matching, credit card checks and email-based age estimation.
Other technologies include facial age estimation, mobile network operator age checks and digital identity services - something which some Pornhub users are particularly concerned about.
Tyla has previously reached out to Ofcom and Pornhub for further comment.
Topics: Life, Sex and Relationships, Social Media, Technology, Reddit, Twitter
Rhiannon Ingle