British Pornography Site Visits Falls Following Age Checks, Yet VPN Use Spikes, States Regulator
Traffic to adult content websites in the UK has decreased markedly since the roll-out of mandatory age verification earlier this year, according to the nation's communications regulator. Concurrently, the adoption of tools designed to circumvent these barriers has risen.
Immediate Fall in Visitor Numbers After Law Implementation
The introduction of age vetting on 25 July resulted in an prompt reduction in visits to major online adult platforms, including the leading provider in the UK. Figures reveals that visitor numbers 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, traffic to the 10 top pornography sites in the UK have now settled at a significantly reduced level than prior to the late July deadline. Later data suggests this downward trend in viewing continued beyond August.
Sharp Increase in VPN Adoption to Bypass Restrictions
In response to the new rules, use of Virtual Private Networks (VPNs)—which can get around location-based blocks by routing connections via another nation—more than doubled after 25 July.
User numbers peaked at over 1.4 million in the middle of August, rising from approximately 650,000 users prior to the verification were introduced. However, the regulator noted that VPN usage has since decreased, with latest figures standing at around 900,000. It clarified that the level of daily VPN use is “much lower” than user numbers for pornography services.
Young People Responding to Harmful Online Content
In other findings, the regulator's annual study revealed that about 60% of young people aged 11 to 17 had acted after seeing damaging content online. Steps taken ranged from flagging the content to the site to muting the person who shared it.
This research was carried out before new regulations took effect that compel social media companies to stop children from accessing harmful content, including material related to suicide and adult material. The primary way young people encountered such content was by scrolling through a social media timeline, indicating that algorithms were showing inappropriate material.
Ministers Launch Review of Adult Content Legislation
In a related development, the government announced it would review the legislation governing pornography to consider whether it is adequate in the ever-developing digital age.
“The review will look into the efficacy of the current law in regarding criminalising, for example, damaging portrayals of familial abuse and any types of pornography which promote child sexual abuse,” said a justice minister.
Advocates Call For Tighter Digital Regulations
Campaigners for tighter regulation of adult content have called on the government to ban so-called “barely legal” material. This includes content featuring simulated familial abuse or that encourages child sexual abuse by using youthful adults portraying children.
Proposed changes to legislation aim to:
- Prohibit pornography where adults are mimicking children, often recorded in settings like children’s bedrooms.
- Extend the offence of making an exploitative portrayal of a child to include material where an adult plays the role of a child.
- Introduce tighter regulation on familial abuse pornography, which studies suggests is heavily recommended by platform algorithms.
- Introduce further controls on “nudification” technology, potentially making it an offence to own software designed to generate private images without permission.
- Create a new, separate oversight agency to conduct inspections on pornography sites and act on complaints of illegal content.
The campaigners contend that these steps would ensure the safeguards that have existed for decades in the physical world finally are extended to the online sphere.
