UK Pornography Site Visits Falls Following Identity Checks, But VPN Use Surges, States Watchdog
Traffic to pornography platforms in the United Kingdom has fallen significantly since the introduction of mandatory age verification earlier this year, as reported by the nation's communications regulator. Concurrently, the use of specialist software designed to bypass these restrictions has risen.
Immediate Fall in Visitor Figures Following Rule Enforcement
The enforcement of age verification on 25 July caused an immediate decline in visits to leading pornography sites, including the leading provider in the UK. Data shows that user traffic to this site in August reached 9.8 million, a drop of 1.5 million compared to the same period in 2024.
In total, traffic to the 10 top adult services in the UK have now stabilized at a markedly decreased volume than prior to the end-of-July deadline. Subsequent analysis suggests this slump in site visits continued beyond August.
Surge in Virtual Private Network Adoption to Bypass Restrictions
Reacting to the new regulations, use of VPN software—which can get around geographic blocks by masking internet traffic through another nation—increased dramatically after 25 July.
User numbers reached a high at over 1.4 million in the middle of August, rising from approximately 650,000 users before the verification began. However, the regulator noted that VPN usage has since fallen back, with current numbers standing at around 900,000. It clarified that the level of daily VPN use is “much lower” than user numbers for adult services.
Teenagers Taking Action to Harmful Material
In other findings, the regulator's report found that about 60% of teenagers aged 11 to 17 had acted after seeing distressing content on the internet. Actions ranged from flagging the content to the site to blocking the person who posted it.
This research was conducted before new rules came into force that require social media companies to prevent children from seeing dangerous content, including material related to suicide and pornography. The primary way teenagers encountered such content was by scrolling through a platform feed, indicating that algorithms were serving harmful material.
Government Launch Review of Adult Content Legislation
Separately, the ministers announced it would examine the criminal law governing pornography to consider whether it is adequate in the ever-developing online world.
“The examination will look into the effectiveness of the current law in regarding criminalising, for example, damaging depictions of incest and any types of pornography which promote the abuse of children,” stated a government official.
Advocates Push For Stricter Digital Controls
Advocates for tighter control of online pornography 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 dressed as children.
Suggested amendments to government bills seek to:
- Prohibit pornography where adults are impersonating children, often filmed in settings like children’s bedrooms.
- Broaden the offence of making an exploitative portrayal of a child to include material where an adult plays the role of a child.
- Introduce stricter regulation on incest-themed pornography, which research indicates is heavily recommended by platform systems.
- Add further restrictions on “nudification” technology, potentially making it an illegal act to possess software designed to generate non-consensual nude images.
- Establish a new, separate oversight agency to conduct inspections on adult platforms and act on complaints of illegal content.
The advocates argue that these steps would ensure the safeguards that have existed for years offline finally apply to the digital age.
