Pornhub is now using Apple’s own age verification feature in the UK
Source: 9to5Mac
Introduction
I guess this is one “benefit” of the Apple ecosystem that won’t make it into a press release from the Cupertino company: Pornhub’s parent company has announced that it will be relying on Apple’s own age verification feature for its UK web visitors.
Apple age verification
Apple first launched its own age verification feature in the UK back in March, before rolling it out to other countries. The move is intended to comply with a growing trend for age‑verification legislation around the world for access to age‑restricted websites and apps.
The company accidentally released it in an iOS beta, giving me an early chance to test it. In my case, it took just 30 seconds to confirm that I’d held an Apple account long enough to verify that I am at least 18 years old.
Once it officially launched, not everyone found the process seamless, but Apple subsequently announced additional methods of verification.
Pornhub now using this
The UK’s Online Safety Act made it a legal requirement for adult websites to implement effective methods of age verification. This was intended to prevent those under 18 from accessing age‑inappropriate content, but in practice it often led teenagers to use a VPN to spoof their location.
Unsurprisingly, not many visitors to such websites wanted to provide credit‑card or photo‑ID details to verify their age, and Engadget reports that Pornhub parent company Aylo is now accepting Apple’s own age verification status.
“In our view, Apple’s UK device‑level age‑verification update offers one of the strongest and hardest‑to‑circumvent protections currently available for helping prevent minors from accessing age‑inappropriate content,” Aylo wrote. Age‑verified iOS users in the UK “will be served a standard adult user experience” when they visit Pornhub.
Apple has been a reluctant participant in the age verification process, but I have argued that I would far rather trust the iPhone maker to handle this in a privacy‑protecting manner than rely on whatever processes random app developers choose to adopt.
Photo by Gilles Lambert on Unsplash