British Pornography Site Visits Declines Following Identity Verifications, But VPN Usage Surges, States Watchdog
Traffic to pornography websites in the United Kingdom has fallen significantly after the enforcement of age-checking measures this summer, as reported by the country's communications regulator. Concurrently, the usage of tools designed to circumvent these barriers has surged.
Immediate Fall in Visitor Numbers Following Law Implementation
The introduction of age verification on 25 July resulted in an immediate decline in visits to popular pornography sites, such as the most visited site in the UK. Figures shows that user traffic to this platform in August stood at 9.8 million, a decline of 1.5 million compared to the equivalent month in 2024.
In total, visitor numbers to the ten most-visited adult services in the UK have now stabilized at a “lower level” than prior to the late July deadline. Subsequent analysis shows this slump in site visits continued beyond August.
Sharp Increase in VPN Adoption to Evade Checks
In response to the new regulations, use of VPN software—which can bypass geographic restrictions by routing connections via another country—increased dramatically after 25 July.
Usage peaked at over 1.4 million in mid-August, rising from around 650,000 users before the checks began. However, the watchdog stated that VPN usage has since steadily declined, with current figures standing at around 900,000. It clarified that the volume of daily VPN use remains “much lower” than user numbers for adult services.
Teenagers Taking Action to Harmful Online Content
In other findings, the regulator's report found that about 60% of teenagers aged 11 to 17 had acted after seeing distressing content on the internet. Actions ranged from flagging the material to the platform to muting the user who shared it.
This survey was conducted before new regulations came into force that compel platforms to prevent children from accessing dangerous content, such as material related to suicide and pornography. The most common way teenagers encountered such content was by looking through a social media timeline, suggesting that algorithms were serving harmful material.
Ministers Launch Review of Pornography Legislation
Separately, the government announced it would examine the legislation governing pornography to assess whether it is “fit for purpose” in the modern digital age.
“The examination will look into the effectiveness of the current law in relation to making illegal, for example, harmful portrayals of familial abuse and any forms of pornography which promote the abuse of children,” said a government official.
Campaigners Call For Tighter Online Regulations
Advocates for better control of adult content have called on the authorities to ban so-called “barely legal” material. This includes content featuring simulated familial abuse or that encourages child sexual abuse by casting young-looking performers dressed as children.
Suggested changes to government bills aim to:
- Ban pornography where adults are impersonating children, sometimes recorded in environments like children’s bedrooms.
- Extend the offence of creating an indecent image of a child to cover material where an older performer acts the part of a child.
- Introduce stricter controls on familial abuse pornography, which research indicates is often promoted by platform systems.
- Add additional controls on “nudification” software, potentially making it an offence to own software designed to generate non-consensual nude images.
- Create a new, separate regulatory body to conduct 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 years in the physical world finally are extended to the digital age.
