Ofcom Investigates Pornhub Owner Aylo Over Age Verification Checks

UK media regulator Ofcom has opened an investigation into Aylo, the owner of Pornhub, over concerns about how the platform verifies the age of its users, the BBC has reported.

Ofcom said it had concerns that Aylo "may not have conducted sufficient due diligence" in checking that users accessing the site are old enough to do so. The investigation falls under the UK's Online Safety Act, which places legal duties on platforms hosting pornographic and other age-restricted content to implement "highly effective" age assurance measures to prevent access by children.

The Online Safety Act, which has come into force in stages, gives Ofcom powers to investigate and penalise platforms that fail to comply with its child-safety provisions, including the ability to levy substantial fines and, in serious cases, seek to have non-compliant services blocked in the UK.

Age verification for adult content platforms has become a significant regulatory flashpoint in the UK and elsewhere, with regulators pushing companies to move beyond simple age declarations or checkbox confirmations toward more robust verification methods, such as facial age estimation or checks against official identity documents.

Aylo, formerly known as MindGeek, owns a number of major adult content platforms in addition to Pornhub. The company had not publicly responded to the specifics of Ofcom's investigation at the time of the BBC's report.