UK Pornography Site Visits Declines Following Identity Checks, Yet VPN Usage Surges, Reports Watchdog
Traffic to pornography platforms in the UK has fallen significantly after the roll-out of mandatory age verification this summer, as reported by the country's communications regulator. Concurrently, the usage of specialist software designed to bypass these restrictions has risen.
Immediate Fall in User Numbers After Law Implementation
The enforcement of age verification on 25 July led to an swift fall in traffic to popular online adult platforms, such as the leading provider in the UK. Data shows that visitor numbers to this site in August were 9.8 million, a drop of 1.5 million from the same period in 2024.
Overall, traffic to the 10 top adult services in the UK have now stabilized at a markedly decreased volume than before the end-of-July implementation date. Subsequent analysis suggests this decline in viewing persisted beyond August.
Sharp Increase in Virtual Private Network Adoption to Bypass Restrictions
Reacting to the new rules, use of VPN software—which can get around geographic blocks by routing connections via another nation—more than doubled after 25 July.
User numbers reached a high at over 1.4 million in the middle of August, up from approximately 650,000 users prior to the verification began. However, the regulator noted that VPN usage has since decreased, with latest figures at around 900,000. It clarified that the level of daily VPN use is “much lower” than traffic for adult sites.
Teenagers Taking Action to Damaging Material
Elsewhere, the watchdog's report found that about 60% of teenagers aged 11 to 17 had acted after seeing distressing content online. Actions included flagging the content to the platform to blocking the user who posted it.
This research was carried out before new regulations came into force that compel platforms to stop children from seeing harmful content, including material related to self-harm and pornography. The most common way teenagers encountered such content was by scrolling through a social media feed, suggesting that algorithms were serving harmful material.
Ministers Launch Review of Pornography Legislation
In a related development, the ministers stated it would examine the criminal law governing pornography to assess whether it is effective in the modern online world.
“The examination will look into the efficacy of the existing law in relation to criminalising, for example, damaging portrayals of incest and any forms of pornography which promote child sexual abuse,” said a government official.
Advocates Call For Stricter Online Controls
Advocates for tighter control of adult content have called on the authorities to outlaw so-called “barely legal” material. This includes content featuring simulated familial abuse or that encourages abuse by casting young-looking adults portraying children.
Suggested changes to government bills seek to:
- Prohibit pornography where performers are mimicking children, sometimes filmed in settings like children’s bedrooms.
- Broaden the crime of making an exploitative portrayal of a child to cover material where an older performer plays the role of a child.
- Introduce tighter controls on familial abuse pornography, which studies suggests is heavily recommended by platform systems.
- Introduce further controls on “nudification” technology, potentially making it an offence to own software designed to create private images without permission.
- Create a new, independent oversight agency to perform spot checks on pornography sites and act on reports of illegal content.
The advocates argue that these measures would ensure the protections that have been enforced for decades offline finally are extended to the digital age.
