British Pornography Site Visits Declines After Identity Verifications, But VPN Usage Spikes, States Watchdog
Traffic to pornography sites in the United Kingdom has decreased markedly since the enforcement of mandatory age verification this summer, as reported by the nation's communications authority. At the same time, the usage of specialist software designed to circumvent these barriers has risen.
Immediate Fall in Visitor Numbers After Law Enforcement
The introduction of age verification on 25 July caused an immediate decline in traffic to major online adult platforms, such as the most visited site in the UK. Data indicates that user traffic to this platform in August stood at 9.8 million, a decrease of 1.5 million from the same period in 2024.
In total, traffic to the ten top adult services in the UK have now stabilized at a significantly reduced level than before the end-of-July implementation date. Subsequent data suggests this decline in viewing continued beyond August.
Surge in Virtual Private Network Adoption to Evade Restrictions
In response to the new rules, adoption of VPN software—which can circumvent geographic blocks by routing internet traffic through another nation—surged following 25 July.
User numbers reached a high at more than 1.4 million in mid-August, rising from around 650,000 users before the checks were introduced. Subsequently, the watchdog stated that VPN usage has afterwards steadily declined, with latest numbers at approximately 900,000. It clarified that the volume of daily VPN use remains “much lower” than user numbers for adult sites.
Young People Responding to Damaging Material
Elsewhere, the regulator's annual study revealed that about 60% of young people aged 11 to 17 had taken action after encountering damaging content on the internet. Steps taken included reporting the content to the platform to blocking the person who shared it.
This survey was carried out before new rules came into force that require platforms to prevent children from seeing harmful content, such as material related to suicide and adult material. The primary way young people encountered such content was by scrolling through a platform feed, suggesting that algorithms were serving harmful material.
Ministers Announce Examination of Pornography Laws
In a related development, the government stated it would review the criminal law relating to pornography to consider whether it is “fit for purpose” in the modern online world.
“The examination will look into the effectiveness of the current law in relation to making illegal, for example, harmful depictions of familial abuse and any forms of pornography which encourage the abuse of children,” stated a justice minister.
Advocates Push For Stricter Digital Controls
Advocates for tighter control of adult content have urged the government to outlaw so-called “barely legal” material. This includes content featuring incest scenes or that appears to promote abuse by casting young-looking adults portraying children.
Suggested amendments to government bills seek to:
- Prohibit pornography where adults are mimicking children, often filmed in environments like children’s bedrooms.
- Extend the crime of creating an indecent image of a child to include material where an older performer acts the part of a child.
- Introduce stricter regulation on familial abuse pornography, which studies indicates is heavily recommended by platform algorithms.
- Add further controls on “nudification” software, potentially making it an offence to possess tools designed to create non-consensual nude images.
- Create a new, independent regulatory body to conduct inspections on pornography sites and respond to complaints of illegal content.
The campaigners argue that these steps would ensure the safeguards that have existed for decades in the physical world finally apply to the digital age.
