British Pornography Traffic Falls After Age Verifications, But VPN Use Surges, States Regulator
Visitor numbers to pornography websites in the UK has seen a notable drop after the enforcement of mandatory age verification this summer, as reported by the country's communications authority. Concurrently, the adoption of tools designed to bypass these barriers has surged.
Immediate Drop in User Numbers After Rule Enforcement
The enforcement of age vetting on 25 July caused an prompt fall in visits to popular online adult platforms, such as the leading provider in the UK. Data reveals that visitor numbers to this site in August were 9.8 million, a decrease of 1.5 million compared to the same period in 2024.
In total, visitor numbers to the 10 most-visited adult services in the UK have now settled at a significantly reduced level than prior to the late July implementation date. Subsequent data shows this slump in viewing continued beyond August.
Surge in Virtual Private Network Usage to Evade Checks
In response to the new rules, adoption of VPN software—which can circumvent location-based restrictions by routing connections through another country—more than doubled after 25 July.
User numbers reached a high at over 1.4 million in the middle of August, up from approximately 650,000 users before the checks were introduced. However, the watchdog noted that VPN usage has since steadily declined, with latest figures standing at approximately 900,000. It clarified that the volume of regular VPN use remains “much lower” than traffic for adult sites.
Teenagers Taking Action to Damaging Online Content
Elsewhere, the regulator's annual study revealed that about 60% of young people aged 11 to 17 had acted after encountering harmful content online. Steps taken included reporting the material to the platform to blocking the person who posted it.
This survey was conducted prior to new regulations came into force that compel platforms to stop children from seeing dangerous content, including material related to self-harm and pornography. The primary way young people came across such content was by scrolling through a platform timeline, suggesting that recommendation systems were serving inappropriate material.
Government Announce Examination of Pornography Laws
In a related development, the government announced it would review the criminal law relating to pornography to consider whether it is adequate in the ever-developing digital age.
“The examination will look into the efficacy of the current law in relation to criminalising, among other things, harmful portrayals of familial abuse and any forms of pornography which promote the abuse of children,” said a justice minister.
Campaigners Call For Tighter Digital Regulations
Campaigners for tighter control of online pornography have urged the authorities to outlaw so-called “barely legal” material. This includes content featuring incest scenes or that appears to promote abuse by casting youthful adults dressed as children.
Proposed amendments to government bills seek to:
- Prohibit pornography where performers are impersonating children, sometimes filmed in environments like children’s bedrooms.
- Extend the crime of making an exploitative portrayal of a child to cover material where an adult plays the role of a child.
- Apply stricter regulation on incest-themed pornography, which research indicates is heavily recommended by platform algorithms.
- Introduce further controls on “nudification” software, potentially making it an illegal act to possess software designed to create private images without permission.
- Establish a new, separate oversight agency to conduct spot checks on pornography sites and respond to complaints of unlawful content.
The advocates contend that these measures would ensure the protections that have been enforced for decades in the physical world finally apply to the digital age.
