British Pornography Site Visits Falls Following Age Checks, But Virtual Private Network Usage Spikes, States Watchdog
Visitor numbers to adult content platforms in the UK has fallen significantly after the roll-out of age-checking measures this summer, according to the country's communications regulator. Concurrently, the usage of specialist software designed to circumvent these barriers has surged.
Immediate Drop in Visitor Figures After Law Implementation
The enforcement of age vetting on 25 July resulted in an swift reduction in traffic to popular pornography sites, such as the most visited site in the UK. Figures reveals that user traffic to this site in August reached 9.8 million, a decline of 1.5 million compared to the equivalent month in 2024.
In total, traffic to the ten top pornography sites in the UK have now stabilized at a markedly decreased volume than before the end-of-July deadline. Subsequent analysis shows this downward trend in site visits continued beyond August.
Surge in Virtual Private Network Adoption to Bypass Restrictions
In response to the new regulations, adoption of Virtual Private Networks (VPNs)—which can bypass location-based restrictions by masking internet traffic via another nation—surged after 25 July.
User numbers reached a high at more than 1.4 million in mid-August, up from around 650,000 people before the verification were introduced. However, the watchdog noted that VPN usage has since fallen back, with latest figures standing at approximately 900,000. It clarified that the level of daily VPN use remains “much lower” than traffic for adult services.
Young People Taking Action to Damaging Material
Elsewhere, the watchdog's annual study revealed that about 60% of teenagers aged 11 to 17 had taken action after encountering damaging content online. Steps taken included flagging the material to the site to blocking the person who posted it.
This survey was conducted prior to new rules took effect that require social media companies to stop children from seeing dangerous content, such as material related to suicide and adult material. The most common way young people came across such content was by looking through a platform feed, indicating that recommendation systems were serving inappropriate material.
Government Launch Review of Adult Content Legislation
Separately, the ministers announced it would examine the criminal law relating to pornography to assess whether it is “fit for purpose” in the modern digital age.
“The review will investigate the effectiveness of the current law in regarding making illegal, for example, harmful portrayals of incest and any forms of pornography which promote the abuse of children,” said a justice minister.
Campaigners Call For Tighter Online Regulations
Campaigners for better regulation of online pornography have called on the government to outlaw so-called “barely legal” material. This encompasses content featuring simulated familial abuse or that encourages child sexual abuse by using youthful performers dressed as children.
Suggested changes to legislation aim to:
- Prohibit pornography where performers are impersonating children, often filmed in environments like children’s bedrooms.
- Broaden the offence of making an indecent image of a child to include material where an older performer plays the role of a child.
- Introduce stricter controls on incest-themed pornography, which research indicates is heavily recommended by platform algorithms.
- Introduce additional controls on “nudification” technology, potentially making it an offence to possess tools designed to generate private images without permission.
- Establish a new, separate regulatory body to perform spot checks on adult platforms and act on reports of illegal content.
The advocates contend that these measures would ensure the protections that have existed for years offline finally apply to the online sphere.
