British Adult Content Site Visits Declines Following Age Verifications, Yet VPN Use Spikes, Reports Watchdog
Traffic to pornography platforms in the UK has decreased markedly after the introduction of age-checking measures this summer, as reported by the nation's communications authority. At the same time, the use of tools designed to bypass these blocks has risen.
Immediate Fall in Visitor Figures Following Rule Implementation
The enforcement of age verification on 25 July caused an prompt fall in visits to popular pornography sites, including the leading site in the UK. Figures indicates that user traffic to this site in August reached 9.8 million, a decline of 1.5 million from the equivalent month in 2024.
Overall, visitor numbers to the ten top adult services in the UK have now settled at a markedly decreased volume than before the end-of-July implementation date. Subsequent data indicates this decline in viewing continued past August.
Sharp Increase in VPN Usage to Evade Checks
Reacting to the new regulations, use of Virtual Private Networks (VPNs)—which can circumvent location-based blocks by routing internet traffic through another nation—increased dramatically after 25 July.
User numbers peaked at more than 1.4 million in the middle of August, up from approximately 650,000 people before the checks began. However, the regulator stated that VPN usage has since fallen back, with current figures standing at around 900,000. It clarified that the volume of regular VPN use is “much lower” than traffic for adult services.
Teenagers Responding to Harmful Material
In other findings, the regulator's annual study revealed that about 60% of young people aged 11 to 17 had taken action after encountering distressing content on the internet. Actions ranged from flagging the material to the site to muting the user who posted it.
This survey was carried out prior to new regulations took effect that compel social media companies 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 serving harmful material.
Ministers Announce Review of Pornography Laws
In a related development, the government announced it would review the criminal law governing pornography to consider whether it is adequate in the ever-developing online world.
“The review will look into the effectiveness of the existing law in relation to criminalising, among other things, harmful portrayals of incest and any types of pornography which promote the abuse of children,” said a government official.
Campaigners Push For Stricter Online Controls
Advocates for better regulation of adult content have called on the government to outlaw so-called “barely legal” material. This includes content featuring simulated familial abuse or that appears to promote abuse by using youthful performers portraying children.
Proposed amendments to legislation seek to:
- Prohibit pornography where adults are mimicking children, often recorded in environments like children’s bedrooms.
- Broaden the offence of creating an indecent image of a child to cover material where an adult plays the role of a child.
- Introduce tighter regulation on familial abuse pornography, which studies suggests is heavily recommended by site algorithms.
- Add further restrictions on “nudification” software, potentially making it an illegal act to possess software designed to create non-consensual nude images.
- Create a new, separate regulatory body to perform spot checks on pornography sites and respond to complaints of illegal content.
The advocates contend that these measures would ensure the safeguards that have been enforced for years offline finally apply to the digital age.