UK Pornography Site Visits Falls After Age Checks, But Virtual Private Network Usage Surges, Reports Regulator
Traffic to pornography websites in the UK has fallen significantly since the roll-out of mandatory age verification this summer, as reported by the nation's communications watchdog. At the same time, the use of tools designed to circumvent these barriers has risen.
Sharp Drop in Visitor Figures Following Law Implementation
The introduction of age vetting on 25 July led to an immediate reduction in traffic to major online adult platforms, including the top provider in the UK. Figures shows that user traffic to this site in August stood at 9.8 million, a decline of 1.5 million from the equivalent month in 2024.
Overall, visitor numbers to the 10 most-visited adult services in the UK have now settled at a significantly reduced level than before the end-of-July deadline. Subsequent data shows this downward trend in viewing continued past August.
Sharp Increase in Virtual Private Network Adoption to Evade Checks
Reacting to the new regulations, adoption of VPN software—which can get around geographic blocks by routing connections via another country—more than doubled following 25 July.
User numbers reached a high at over 1.4 million in mid-August, rising from approximately 650,000 people before the checks began. Subsequently, the regulator noted that VPN usage has afterwards steadily declined, with latest figures at around 900,000. It clarified that the volume of regular VPN use remains “much lower” than traffic for pornography sites.
Teenagers Responding to Damaging Material
Elsewhere, the regulator's annual study found that about 60% of teenagers aged 11 to 17 had acted after encountering damaging content on the internet. Actions included reporting the material to the site to muting the person who posted it.
This survey was conducted before new regulations came into force that require social media companies to prevent children from seeing dangerous content, such as material related to self-harm and adult material. The primary way teenagers encountered such content was by scrolling through a platform feed, indicating that recommendation systems were showing harmful material.
Ministers Launch Examination of Adult Content Laws
In a related development, the ministers stated it would examine the criminal law relating to pornography to assess whether it is adequate in the modern online world.
“The examination will investigate the effectiveness of the current law in regarding criminalising, among other things, damaging portrayals of incest and any types of pornography which promote child sexual abuse,” stated a government official.
Advocates Push For Tighter Online Regulations
Advocates for tighter regulation of adult content have called on the government to ban so-called “barely legal” material. This includes content featuring incest scenes or that encourages abuse by using young-looking performers dressed as children.
Proposed amendments to legislation seek to:
- Ban pornography where performers are mimicking children, often filmed in environments like children’s bedrooms.
- Broaden the offence of creating an exploitative portrayal of a child to include material where an older performer plays the role of a child.
- Introduce stricter regulation on incest-themed pornography, which studies indicates is often promoted by platform systems.
- Introduce further restrictions on “nudification” technology, potentially making it an illegal act to possess tools designed to generate non-consensual nude images.
- Create a new, separate regulatory body to conduct inspections on adult platforms and act on complaints of unlawful content.
The campaigners contend that these measures would ensure the safeguards that have existed for years in the physical world finally are extended to the online sphere.
