British Pornography Site Visits Declines After Age Verifications, Yet VPN Usage Surges, Reports Regulator
Visitor numbers to adult content websites in the UK has fallen significantly since the enforcement of age-checking measures this summer, as reported by the country's communications authority. Concurrently, the usage of specialist software designed to dodge these restrictions has risen.
Sharp Fall in Visitor Numbers Following Rule Enforcement
The enforcement of age verification on 25 July led to an immediate fall in traffic to major online adult platforms, such as the top provider in the UK. Figures indicates that user traffic to this platform in August reached 9.8 million, a decrease of 1.5 million from the same period in 2024.
Overall, traffic to the ten top adult services in the UK have now stabilized at a “lower level” than before the end-of-July implementation date. Later analysis shows this downward trend in viewing persisted past August.
Sharp Increase in Virtual Private Network Usage to Bypass Checks
Reacting to the new rules, adoption of Virtual Private Networks (VPNs)—which can get around location-based restrictions by masking connections via another nation—surged after 25 July.
User numbers peaked at over 1.4 million in the middle of August, rising from approximately 650,000 users prior to the verification were introduced. Subsequently, the watchdog noted that VPN usage has afterwards decreased, with current figures at approximately 900,000. It clarified that the level of regular VPN use remains “much lower” than user numbers for pornography sites.
Young People Taking Action to Damaging Material
Elsewhere, the watchdog's report revealed that about 60% of teenagers aged 11 to 17 had taken action after seeing damaging content on the internet. Actions included reporting the material to the site to muting the person who shared it.
This survey was conducted prior to new regulations took effect that compel social media companies to stop children from accessing harmful content, such as material related to self-harm and adult material. The most common way young people came across such content was by scrolling through a platform timeline, indicating that algorithms were serving harmful material.
Ministers Launch Examination of Adult Content Laws
In a related development, the government announced it would review the criminal law governing pornography to consider whether it is effective in the modern online world.
“The examination will look into the effectiveness of the current law in regarding criminalising, for example, damaging portrayals of familial abuse and any types of pornography which promote the abuse of children,” said a justice minister.
Campaigners Call For Stricter Digital Regulations
Advocates for better control of online pornography have urged the government to outlaw so-called “barely legal” material. This encompasses content featuring simulated familial abuse or that appears to promote abuse by using young-looking adults portraying children.
Suggested amendments to legislation aim to:
- Ban pornography where adults are impersonating children, sometimes recorded in settings like children’s bedrooms.
- Extend the offence of creating an exploitative portrayal of a child to cover material where an adult plays the role of a child.
- Apply stricter regulation on incest-themed pornography, which studies suggests is often promoted by platform systems.
- Add further restrictions on “nudification” software, potentially making it an illegal act to own tools designed to create private images without permission.
- Create a new, separate regulatory body to conduct spot checks on pornography sites and respond to complaints of illegal content.
The advocates argue that these measures would ensure the protections that have been enforced for years in the physical world finally are extended to the online sphere.
