British Pornography Site Visits Declines Following Age Verifications, But Virtual Private Network Usage Spikes, States Watchdog
Access to adult content sites in the UK has seen a notable drop after the roll-out of age-checking measures earlier this year, as reported by the country's communications authority. Concurrently, the usage of specialist software designed to dodge these blocks has increased.
Immediate Fall in User Numbers After Law Enforcement
The introduction of age vetting on 25 July resulted in an swift fall in traffic to popular pornography sites, including the most visited site in the UK. Figures reveals that user traffic to this site in August reached 9.8 million, a decline 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 “lower level” than before the end-of-July implementation date. Later data suggests this decline in site visits continued past August.
Sharp Increase in VPN Adoption to Evade Checks
In response to the new rules, adoption of Virtual Private Networks (VPNs)—which can get around location-based blocks by masking internet traffic via another country—surged following 25 July.
User numbers reached a high at more than 1.4 million in mid-August, up from approximately 650,000 people before the checks began. However, the watchdog stated that VPN usage has afterwards fallen back, with current numbers standing at around 900,000. It added that the volume of regular VPN use remains “much lower” than user numbers for pornography sites.
Teenagers Taking Action to Damaging Online Content
Elsewhere, the watchdog's annual study found that about 60% of young people aged 11 to 17 had taken action after encountering damaging content online. Actions ranged from flagging the content to the site to muting the person who posted it.
This survey was carried out before new rules came into force that require platforms to stop children from seeing harmful content, such as material related to self-harm and pornography. The most common way young people encountered such content was by scrolling through a social media timeline, indicating that algorithms were serving harmful material.
Government Launch Review of Adult Content Legislation
Separately, the government announced it would review the legislation relating to pornography to assess whether it is effective in the modern online world.
“The review will look into the efficacy of the existing law in regarding making illegal, among other things, harmful portrayals of familial abuse and any forms of pornography which encourage the abuse of children,” stated a government official.
Campaigners Call For Tighter Digital Regulations
Advocates for tighter control of adult content have urged the authorities to ban so-called “barely legal” material. This includes content featuring incest scenes or that encourages abuse by using young-looking performers portraying children.
Suggested changes to legislation seek to:
- Prohibit pornography where performers are impersonating children, often recorded in environments like children’s bedrooms.
- Extend the offence of creating 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 studies indicates is often promoted by site algorithms.
- Add additional restrictions on “nudification” software, potentially making it an offence to own software designed to create private images without permission.
- Establish a new, independent regulatory body to conduct 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 in the physical world finally are extended to the online sphere.
