UK Pornography Traffic Falls After Age Checks, Yet Virtual Private Network Usage Spikes, States Watchdog
Visitor numbers to adult content sites in the United Kingdom has seen a notable drop after the introduction of mandatory age verification this summer, as reported by the nation's communications watchdog. Simultaneously, the use of specialist software designed to bypass these restrictions has increased.
Immediate Fall in Visitor Figures After Rule Enforcement
The enforcement of age vetting on 25 July led to an immediate decline in visits to leading pornography sites, including the most visited site in the UK. Data reveals that user traffic to this platform in August stood at 9.8 million, a decrease of 1.5 million from the equivalent month in 2024.
In total, visitor numbers to the 10 top pornography sites in the UK have now settled at a significantly reduced level than prior to the end-of-July deadline. Subsequent data shows this downward trend in viewing persisted beyond August.
Surge in VPN Usage to Bypass Restrictions
Reacting to the new regulations, adoption of VPN software—which can circumvent location-based restrictions by masking connections through another nation—surged after 25 July.
Usage peaked at more than 1.4 million in mid-August, up from approximately 650,000 people before the checks were introduced. However, the regulator noted that VPN usage has afterwards decreased, with current figures at around 900,000. It clarified that the volume of daily VPN use is “much lower” than traffic for adult sites.
Teenagers Responding 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 distressing content on the internet. Steps taken ranged from flagging the content to the platform to blocking the user who shared it.
This research was conducted before new rules came into force that require social media companies to prevent children from accessing dangerous content, including material related to suicide and pornography. The most common way young people encountered such content was by looking through a platform timeline, indicating that recommendation systems were showing harmful material.
Government Announce Examination of Adult Content Legislation
Separately, the government stated it would review the criminal law relating to pornography to assess whether it is adequate in the ever-developing digital age.
“The examination will investigate the effectiveness of the current law in relation to making illegal, among other things, harmful depictions of familial abuse and any types of pornography which promote the abuse of children,” stated a justice minister.
Campaigners Push For Tighter Online Controls
Campaigners for tighter regulation of online pornography have called on the authorities to outlaw so-called “barely legal” material. This encompasses content featuring incest scenes or that appears to promote abuse by casting young-looking adults dressed as children.
Proposed amendments to government bills seek to:
- Ban pornography where performers are mimicking children, sometimes recorded in environments like children’s bedrooms.
- Extend the offence of making an indecent image of a child to cover material where an older performer acts the part of a child.
- Introduce stricter regulation on incest-themed pornography, which studies indicates is often promoted by site systems.
- Add further controls on “nudification” technology, potentially making it an illegal act to own software designed to generate private images without permission.
- Create a new, independent oversight agency to conduct inspections on adult platforms and respond to complaints of unlawful content.
The campaigners contend that these measures would ensure the safeguards that have existed for decades offline finally apply to the online sphere.
