British Pornography Site Visits Declines Following Identity Checks, But VPN Use Spikes, Reports Watchdog
Traffic to pornography websites in the UK has fallen significantly since the enforcement of age-checking measures earlier this year, as reported by the nation's communications regulator. Simultaneously, the adoption of tools designed to dodge these barriers has increased.
Immediate Drop in Visitor Numbers Following Rule Enforcement
The enforcement of age verification on 25 July resulted in an immediate decline in traffic to popular pornography sites, including the top site in the UK. Figures reveals that user traffic to this platform in August stood at 9.8 million, a decrease of 1.5 million compared to the same period in 2024.
In total, visitor numbers to the ten top adult services in the UK have now settled at a “lower level” than prior to the late July deadline. Subsequent data indicates this slump in site visits persisted past August.
Sharp Increase in Virtual Private Network Adoption to Evade Checks
In response to the new rules, adoption of Virtual Private Networks (VPNs)—which can get around location-based restrictions by masking connections via another nation—increased dramatically following 25 July.
Usage reached a high at more than 1.4 million in the middle of August, up from around 650,000 people before the verification began. However, the watchdog noted that VPN usage has since decreased, with latest figures standing at approximately 900,000. It added that the level of daily VPN use remains “much lower” than traffic for pornography services.
Teenagers Responding to Damaging Online Content
In other findings, the regulator's report revealed that about 60% of teenagers aged 11 to 17 had acted after seeing harmful content on the internet. Steps taken included flagging the content to the platform to muting the person who posted it.
This research was carried out before new rules took effect that compel platforms to prevent children from accessing harmful content, including material related to suicide and pornography. The most common way teenagers encountered such content was by scrolling through a social media feed, suggesting that algorithms were serving harmful material.
Ministers Launch Examination of Adult Content Laws
In a related development, the ministers stated it would review the legislation governing pornography to assess whether it is adequate in the modern digital age.
“The examination will investigate the efficacy of the existing law in relation to making illegal, for example, harmful depictions of familial abuse and any forms of pornography which promote the abuse of children,” stated a government official.
Campaigners Call For Stricter Online Controls
Advocates for tighter regulation of adult content 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 performers portraying children.
Proposed changes to legislation seek to:
- Ban pornography where adults are mimicking children, often recorded in settings like children’s bedrooms.
- Broaden the offence 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 suggests is often promoted by platform systems.
- Add further restrictions on “nudification” software, potentially making it an offence to possess tools designed to generate private images without permission.
- Create a new, independent oversight agency to conduct inspections on adult platforms and act on complaints of illegal content.
The campaigners contend that these measures would ensure the safeguards that have existed for years offline finally apply to the digital age.
