UK Pornography Site Visits Falls After Age Checks, Yet Virtual Private Network Usage Surges, States Watchdog
Visitor numbers to adult content platforms in the United Kingdom has decreased markedly since the introduction of mandatory age verification earlier this year, according to the nation's communications watchdog. Concurrently, the use of specialist software designed to bypass these barriers has risen.
Sharp Fall in Visitor Figures After Rule Enforcement
The enforcement of age verification on 25 July led to an swift reduction in visits to leading online adult platforms, such as the leading provider in the UK. Figures indicates that user traffic to this site in August stood at 9.8 million, a decrease of 1.5 million compared to the equivalent month in 2024.
In total, visitor numbers to the 10 most-visited pornography sites in the UK have now settled at a significantly reduced level than prior to the end-of-July deadline. Later analysis shows this decline in viewing continued beyond August.
Surge in Virtual Private Network Adoption to Evade Restrictions
Reacting to the new rules, use of VPN software—which can circumvent geographic blocks by masking internet traffic via another nation—surged after 25 July.
User numbers peaked at over 1.4 million in mid-August, up from around 650,000 people before the verification were introduced. However, the regulator noted that VPN usage has afterwards steadily declined, with latest numbers at approximately 900,000. It added that the level of regular VPN use is “much lower” than traffic for pornography sites.
Teenagers Taking Action to Harmful Material
Elsewhere, the watchdog's report revealed that about 60% of young people aged 11 to 17 had taken action after seeing damaging content on the internet. Steps taken ranged from reporting the content to the site to muting the user who shared it.
This survey was carried out before new regulations came into force that require social media companies to stop children from seeing harmful content, including material related to self-harm and pornography. The primary way young people encountered such content was by looking through a social media timeline, suggesting that algorithms were serving inappropriate material.
Government Announce Review of Pornography Legislation
Separately, the ministers announced it would examine the criminal law governing pornography to assess whether it is effective in the ever-developing digital age.
“The review will look into the effectiveness of the existing law in relation to making illegal, among other things, harmful depictions of incest and any types of pornography which encourage child sexual abuse,” stated a justice minister.
Campaigners Call For Stricter Digital Regulations
Advocates for better control of online pornography have called on the authorities to ban so-called “barely legal” material. This encompasses content featuring incest scenes or that appears to promote child sexual abuse by using youthful adults portraying children.
Proposed changes to government bills seek to:
- Prohibit pornography where adults are impersonating children, sometimes filmed in settings like children’s bedrooms.
- Extend the crime of making an exploitative portrayal of a child to include material where an adult acts the part of a child.
- Introduce stricter regulation on incest-themed pornography, which studies indicates is heavily recommended by site systems.
- Introduce additional restrictions on “nudification” technology, potentially making it an illegal act to possess software designed to generate non-consensual nude images.
- Create a new, independent regulatory body to perform spot checks on pornography sites and respond to complaints of illegal content.
The campaigners argue that these steps would ensure the safeguards that have existed for years in the physical world finally are extended to the online sphere.