British Pornography Traffic Falls Following Age Checks, But Virtual Private Network Usage Surges, States Watchdog
Traffic to adult content websites in the UK has decreased markedly after the enforcement of mandatory age verification this summer, according to the country's communications regulator. Concurrently, the use of tools designed to circumvent these restrictions has surged.
Sharp Fall in User Numbers Following Rule Enforcement
The introduction of age vetting on 25 July resulted in an prompt fall in visits to major pornography sites, such as the top site in the UK. Data reveals that visitor numbers to this site in August reached 9.8 million, a decrease of 1.5 million compared to the equivalent month in 2024.
In total, visitor numbers to the 10 most-visited pornography sites in the UK have now stabilized at a markedly decreased volume than before the end-of-July deadline. Subsequent data indicates this slump in site visits persisted past August.
Sharp Increase in Virtual Private Network Adoption to Evade Restrictions
Reacting to the new rules, adoption of VPN software—which can bypass location-based blocks by masking connections through another country—surged after 25 July.
User numbers peaked at more than 1.4 million in the middle of August, up from approximately 650,000 people prior to the checks began. However, the regulator noted that VPN usage has afterwards decreased, with current numbers at around 900,000. It clarified that the volume of daily VPN use remains “much lower” than traffic for adult sites.
Young People Responding to Damaging Material
In other findings, the watchdog's report found that about 60% of teenagers aged 11 to 17 had acted after seeing distressing content online. Actions 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 require platforms to stop children from seeing dangerous content, including material related to self-harm and pornography. The most common way teenagers came across such content was by looking through a social media timeline, suggesting that algorithms were showing harmful material.
Government Announce Examination of Pornography Legislation
Separately, the government stated it would examine the legislation relating to pornography to assess whether it is effective in the ever-developing online world.
“The examination will investigate the efficacy of the existing law in relation to making illegal, among other things, damaging depictions of familial abuse and any types of pornography which encourage child sexual abuse,” said a government official.
Campaigners Call For Tighter Online Regulations
Advocates for better control of adult content have called on the authorities to outlaw so-called “barely legal” material. This encompasses content featuring incest scenes or that encourages abuse by using young-looking adults portraying children.
Proposed changes to legislation aim to:
- Prohibit pornography where performers are mimicking children, sometimes recorded in settings like children’s bedrooms.
- Broaden the offence of creating an exploitative portrayal of a child to include material where an adult plays the role of a child.
- Introduce tighter regulation on familial abuse pornography, which studies indicates is heavily recommended by platform algorithms.
- Introduce additional restrictions on “nudification” technology, potentially making it an illegal act to possess tools designed to generate non-consensual nude images.
- Establish a new, separate oversight agency to perform spot checks on adult platforms and respond to reports of unlawful content.
The advocates contend that these measures would ensure the protections that have been enforced for decades offline finally are extended to the digital age.
