British Pornography Site Visits Falls After Age Verifications, Yet VPN Use Surges, States Regulator
Access to adult content platforms in the UK has fallen significantly since the introduction of age-checking measures this summer, as reported by the country's communications regulator. At the same time, the adoption of specialist software designed to dodge these barriers has surged.
Immediate Drop in Visitor Numbers After Law Enforcement
The introduction of age vetting on 25 July caused an prompt reduction in traffic to leading online adult platforms, including the leading site in the UK. Data indicates that visitor numbers to this platform in August reached 9.8 million, a decrease of 1.5 million compared to the equivalent month in 2024.
In total, traffic to the 10 most-visited adult services in the UK have now stabilized at a significantly reduced level than prior to the end-of-July implementation date. Later data shows this decline in site visits persisted past August.
Sharp Increase in Virtual Private Network Usage to Evade Restrictions
Reacting to the new rules, adoption of Virtual Private Networks (VPNs)—which can get around location-based restrictions by routing connections through another country—increased dramatically following 25 July.
User numbers reached a high at over 1.4 million in the middle of August, up from approximately 650,000 users before the verification began. Subsequently, the watchdog stated that VPN usage has afterwards fallen back, with latest numbers standing at approximately 900,000. It clarified that the volume of regular VPN use remains “much lower” than traffic for pornography sites.
Young People Responding to Harmful Material
In other findings, the regulator's report found that about 60% of young people aged 11 to 17 had acted after encountering harmful content on the internet. Steps taken ranged from flagging the material to the site to blocking the person who posted it.
This survey was conducted before new rules took effect that compel platforms to prevent children from seeing harmful content, including material related to suicide and pornography. The primary way young people encountered such content was by looking through a social media feed, suggesting that recommendation systems were showing harmful material.
Ministers Launch Review of Pornography Laws
Separately, the government stated it would examine the criminal law relating to pornography to assess whether it is “fit for purpose” in the ever-developing digital age.
“The examination will look into the effectiveness of the current law in relation to criminalising, among other things, damaging portrayals of familial abuse and any forms of pornography which encourage child sexual abuse,” said a government official.
Advocates Push For Tighter Digital Controls
Advocates for better regulation of adult content have called on the government to outlaw so-called “barely legal” material. This encompasses content featuring simulated familial abuse or that appears to promote abuse by casting youthful performers dressed as children.
Suggested amendments to government bills seek to:
- Ban pornography where performers are mimicking children, often 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.
- Introduce stricter regulation on familial abuse pornography, which studies suggests is heavily recommended by site systems.
- Introduce further restrictions on “nudification” technology, potentially making it an illegal act to possess tools designed to generate non-consensual nude images.
- Establish a new, independent regulatory body to conduct inspections on pornography sites and act on complaints of illegal content.
The advocates contend that these steps would ensure the protections that have existed for decades in the physical world finally apply to the online sphere.
