UK Pornography Site Visits Falls Following Age Checks, But VPN Use Spikes, Reports Regulator
Visitor numbers to pornography sites in the United Kingdom has seen a notable drop after the roll-out of mandatory age verification this summer, as reported by the nation's communications authority. Concurrently, the usage of specialist software designed to circumvent these restrictions has risen.
Immediate Drop in Visitor Numbers Following Law Implementation
The introduction of age vetting on 25 July led to an immediate fall in visits to major pornography sites, such as the most visited site in the UK. Figures shows that visitor numbers to this site in August stood at 9.8 million, a decrease of 1.5 million compared to the equivalent month in 2024.
In total, traffic to the ten top adult services in the UK have now settled at a markedly decreased volume than before the late July deadline. Later data indicates this slump in viewing continued beyond August.
Surge in Virtual Private Network Usage to Evade Restrictions
In response to the new rules, adoption of Virtual Private Networks (VPNs)—which can bypass geographic restrictions by masking internet traffic via another nation—increased dramatically following 25 July.
User numbers reached a high at more than 1.4 million in mid-August, rising from around 650,000 people before the verification were introduced. Subsequently, the watchdog noted that VPN usage has since decreased, with latest figures standing at approximately 900,000. It added that the volume of regular VPN use is “much lower” than traffic for adult sites.
Teenagers Responding to Damaging Material
Elsewhere, the regulator's report revealed that about 60% of teenagers aged 11 to 17 had acted after encountering damaging content on the internet. Steps taken ranged from reporting the content to the platform to muting the user who posted it.
This survey was carried out prior to new rules came into force that compel social media companies to prevent children from seeing dangerous content, such as material related to suicide and pornography. The primary way young people encountered such content was by scrolling through a social media feed, indicating that recommendation systems were serving inappropriate material.
Ministers Announce Examination of Pornography Laws
Separately, the ministers stated it would examine the legislation relating to pornography to consider whether it is effective in the modern online world.
“The examination will look into the efficacy of the current law in regarding making illegal, for example, harmful portrayals of incest and any types of pornography which promote child sexual abuse,” stated a government official.
Advocates Push For Stricter Digital Regulations
Campaigners for better control of online pornography have urged the authorities to ban so-called “barely legal” material. This encompasses content featuring simulated familial abuse or that appears to promote abuse by using young-looking adults dressed as children.
Proposed changes to legislation aim to:
- Ban pornography where performers are impersonating children, often recorded in environments like children’s bedrooms.
- Extend the crime of creating an indecent image of a child to cover material where an older performer plays the role of a child.
- Apply stricter regulation on familial abuse pornography, which research suggests is often promoted by site algorithms.
- Add additional controls on “nudification” technology, potentially making it an illegal act to own software designed to generate non-consensual nude images.
- Establish a new, separate oversight agency to conduct inspections on adult platforms and act on reports of unlawful content.
The advocates contend that these steps would ensure the protections that have been enforced for decades in the physical world finally apply to the online sphere.
