UK Pornography Traffic Declines Following Age Verifications, But Virtual Private Network Use Spikes, Reports Regulator
Visitor numbers to pornography platforms in the United Kingdom has decreased markedly since the roll-out of age-checking measures this summer, as reported by the country's communications regulator. Simultaneously, the adoption of tools designed to bypass these blocks has risen.
Sharp Drop in Visitor Numbers After Rule Enforcement
The introduction of age verification on 25 July resulted in an prompt reduction in visits to popular pornography sites, such as the most visited site in the UK. Figures reveals that user traffic to this site in August stood at 9.8 million, a drop of 1.5 million from the equivalent month in 2024.
Overall, visitor numbers to the 10 top adult services in the UK have now stabilized at a significantly reduced level than before the end-of-July deadline. Later analysis shows this downward trend in viewing persisted past August.
Sharp Increase in VPN Adoption to Evade Restrictions
Reacting to the new regulations, use of Virtual Private Networks (VPNs)—which can get around geographic restrictions by masking connections through another nation—more than doubled following 25 July.
User numbers peaked at more than 1.4 million in the middle of August, up from approximately 650,000 people before the verification were introduced. However, the watchdog stated that VPN usage has since steadily declined, with current numbers standing at approximately 900,000. It added that the level of daily VPN use is “much lower” than user numbers for adult sites.
Young People Taking Action to Harmful Material
In other findings, the watchdog's report found that about 60% of teenagers aged 11 to 17 had taken action after encountering damaging content on the internet. Actions ranged from flagging the content to the site to blocking the user who shared it.
This survey was conducted before new regulations came into force that compel platforms to stop children from seeing dangerous content, such as material related to suicide and adult material. The primary way teenagers came across such content was by looking through a social media timeline, indicating that recommendation systems were showing inappropriate material.
Government Launch Review of Pornography Legislation
In a related development, the government stated it would examine the legislation relating to pornography to consider whether it is effective in the ever-developing digital age.
“The review will look into the effectiveness of the existing law in relation to making illegal, among other things, damaging portrayals of incest and any types of pornography which encourage child sexual abuse,” said a justice minister.
Advocates Push For Tighter Digital Controls
Advocates for tighter regulation of adult content have urged the authorities to ban so-called “barely legal” material. This encompasses content featuring incest scenes or that encourages child sexual abuse by using young-looking performers portraying children.
Proposed amendments to legislation seek to:
- Ban pornography where performers are impersonating children, sometimes filmed in environments like children’s bedrooms.
- Broaden the offence of making an exploitative portrayal of a child to cover material where an adult acts the part of a child.
- Apply tighter regulation on familial abuse pornography, which research indicates is heavily recommended by platform systems.
- Add additional controls on “nudification” software, potentially making it an offence to possess software designed to create non-consensual nude images.
- Create a new, separate oversight agency to conduct spot checks on adult platforms and act on reports of unlawful content.
The campaigners argue that these measures would ensure the protections that have existed for decades offline finally are extended to the online sphere.