Adult entertainment platform Pornhub is encouraging its creators to produce nonexplicit content, such as gaming, cooking, and podcasting videos, to give viewers a chance to connect with performers beyond their adult roles. As reported by WIRED, the platform’s safe-for-work (SFW) categories saw significant growth in 2025, with podcasts surging by 327 percent and searches for SFW content rising by 114 percent.
Adapting to Industry Restrictions and Censorship
The push toward nonexplicit material provides a strategic solution for adult creators facing mounting online censorship and restrictive age-verification laws across various jurisdictions. Currently, 27 US states require users to upload personal documentation to prove they are not minors before accessing sexually explicit websites. Additionally, 16 states have declared pornography a public health crisis, and the UK has enacted the Online Safety Act, which has caused Pornhub’s UK viewership to drop by nearly 80 percent.
Adult performer Isla Moon told WIRED that she has faced bans from over 250 TikTok accounts since 2021 and has had to adapt her content strategy to protect her livelihood. Known for outdoor videos featuring fishing and camping, Moon noted that mainstream platforms have become increasingly restrictive regarding clothing and suggestive framing. Her nonexplicit long-form videos posted on Pornhub have achieved strong performance, with a survival documentary in the snow drawing three times more views on Pornhub than it previously did on YouTube.
Expanding Creator Visibility and Audience Reach
By heavily featuring SFW content across video pages, search results, and its scrollable vertical video feed known as Shorties, Pornhub aims to help creators grow their audiences. Alex Kekesi, vice president of brand and community at Pornhub, explained to WIRED that these categories are meant to complement existing creator libraries rather than replace adult videos. The expansion also allows creators to gain visibility in regions where Pornhub restricted access to NSFW content due to local age-verification mandates.
Pornhub previously blocked access in 23 US states in protest of mandatory age-verification laws, but with SFW content now available in many of those areas, only four states—Indiana, Mississippi, Tennessee, and Texas—remain blocked. The platform joins other services like OnlyFans in branching out into PG content to help creators navigate ongoing issues with deplatforming and shadow banning on mainstream social media. Kekesi emphasized that while Pornhub remains committed to supporting sex workers, adult material is no longer the only type of content hosted on the platform.
