British Pornography Site Visits Declines Following Age Checks, But VPN Use Surges, States Watchdog
Traffic to pornography websites in the United Kingdom has decreased markedly since the enforcement of mandatory age verification this summer, according to the nation's communications authority. At the same time, the use of specialist software designed to bypass these restrictions has risen.
Immediate Fall in User Figures Following Law Implementation
The enforcement of age verification on 25 July caused an swift reduction in visits to leading pornography sites, including the most visited site in the UK. Figures indicates that visitor numbers to this site in August reached 9.8 million, a decrease of 1.5 million from the equivalent month in 2024.
In total, visitor numbers to the ten top adult services in the UK have now stabilized at a significantly reduced level than prior to the end-of-July deadline. Later data indicates this slump in site visits continued beyond August.
Surge in VPN Usage to Evade Restrictions
Reacting to the new rules, adoption of Virtual Private Networks (VPNs)—which can get around location-based blocks by routing connections through another nation—increased dramatically following 25 July.
Usage reached a high at more than 1.4 million in the middle of August, rising from approximately 650,000 people prior to the checks were introduced. Subsequently, the watchdog noted that VPN usage has since fallen back, with current numbers at approximately 900,000. It clarified that the level of regular VPN use is “much lower” than traffic for pornography services.
Young People Taking Action to Harmful Online Content
In other findings, the regulator's report found that about 60% of young people aged 11 to 17 had taken action after seeing harmful content on the internet. Actions included flagging the content to the platform to muting the person who shared it.
This survey was conducted before new rules came into force that require social media companies to prevent children from accessing harmful content, including material related to self-harm and adult material. The most common way young people encountered such content was by scrolling through a platform timeline, suggesting that algorithms were serving inappropriate material.
Ministers Launch Examination of Adult Content Laws
In a related development, the government stated it would review the legislation governing pornography to assess whether it is “fit for purpose” in the ever-developing online world.
“The examination will investigate the effectiveness of the current law in relation to criminalising, for example, harmful portrayals of incest and any types of pornography which promote child sexual abuse,” said a government official.
Campaigners Call For Stricter Digital Controls
Advocates for tighter control of adult content have called on the government to outlaw so-called “barely legal” material. This includes content featuring incest scenes or that encourages abuse by using youthful adults dressed as children.
Suggested changes to legislation aim to:
- Ban pornography where adults are mimicking children, sometimes filmed in environments like children’s bedrooms.
- Extend the crime of making an indecent image of a child to include material where an older performer acts the part of a child.
- Apply tighter regulation on incest-themed pornography, which research indicates is often promoted by site algorithms.
- Add further restrictions on “nudification” software, potentially making it an illegal act to possess tools designed to generate private images without permission.
- Establish a new, separate regulatory body to perform spot checks on adult platforms and respond to complaints of unlawful content.
The advocates contend that these steps would ensure the protections that have existed for decades in the physical world finally apply to the digital age.
