British Pornography Site Visits Falls After Identity Checks, Yet VPN Use Spikes, Reports Watchdog
Access to pornography websites in the United Kingdom has seen a notable drop after the enforcement of mandatory age verification this summer, according to the country's communications regulator. Concurrently, the usage of specialist software designed to dodge these barriers has increased.
Immediate Fall in User Figures Following Law Enforcement
The introduction of age vetting on 25 July led to an prompt decline in traffic to leading pornography sites, including the most visited provider in the UK. Data shows that user traffic to this platform in August reached 9.8 million, a drop of 1.5 million from the same period in 2024.
In total, traffic to the ten top pornography sites in the UK have now settled at a “lower level” than before the late July deadline. Later data indicates this downward trend in viewing continued past August.
Sharp Increase in Virtual Private Network Adoption to Bypass Checks
Reacting to the new regulations, adoption of VPN software—which can bypass 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 mid-August, rising from approximately 650,000 users before the verification began. Subsequently, the watchdog stated that VPN usage has since fallen back, with current figures standing at around 900,000. It clarified that the level of regular VPN use is “much lower” than traffic for pornography sites.
Young People Responding to Damaging Online Content
Elsewhere, the watchdog's annual study revealed that about 60% of teenagers aged 11 to 17 had taken action after seeing damaging content on the internet. Actions ranged from flagging the content to the platform to muting the person who shared it.
This survey was carried out prior to new regulations took effect that compel social media companies to stop children from accessing harmful content, such as material related to self-harm and adult material. The most common way young people encountered such content was by looking through a social media feed, suggesting that recommendation systems were serving harmful material.
Government Announce Review of Adult Content Laws
In a related development, the ministers announced it would examine the criminal law relating to pornography to consider whether it is effective in the modern online world.
“The review will look into the effectiveness of the existing law in regarding making illegal, among other things, harmful depictions of familial abuse and any types of pornography which encourage the abuse of children,” stated a justice minister.
Advocates Call For Stricter Digital Controls
Campaigners for better regulation of adult content have urged the government to ban so-called “barely legal” material. This includes content featuring incest scenes or that appears to promote child sexual abuse by using youthful performers dressed as children.
Suggested changes to government bills aim to:
- Ban pornography where performers are mimicking children, sometimes recorded in environments like children’s bedrooms.
- Extend the crime of making an exploitative portrayal of a child to include material where an adult acts the part of a child.
- Introduce stricter controls on familial abuse pornography, which research suggests is heavily recommended by platform algorithms.
- Introduce further controls on “nudification” technology, potentially making it an offence to possess tools designed to create non-consensual nude images.
- Establish a new, separate regulatory body to conduct inspections on adult platforms and act on reports of illegal content.
The advocates argue that these measures would ensure the safeguards that have been enforced for years offline finally are extended to the digital age.
