UK Adult Content Traffic Falls After Age Verifications, Yet Virtual Private Network Use Surges, States Watchdog
Visitor numbers to pornography sites in the United Kingdom has seen a notable drop after the introduction of age-checking measures earlier this year, according to the country's communications watchdog. Concurrently, the use of tools designed to dodge these restrictions has surged.
Immediate Fall in Visitor Numbers After Law Implementation
The introduction of age verification on 25 July resulted in an prompt decline in visits to major online adult platforms, including the leading provider in the UK. Figures indicates that visitor numbers to this site in August were 9.8 million, a decrease of 1.5 million from the same period in 2024.
Overall, visitor numbers to the ten top pornography sites in the UK have now stabilized at a “lower level” than prior to the late July implementation date. Later analysis indicates this downward trend in viewing continued beyond August.
Surge in VPN Usage to Bypass Restrictions
In response to the new regulations, adoption of Virtual Private Networks (VPNs)—which can bypass geographic restrictions by routing connections via another nation—more than doubled following 25 July.
User numbers peaked at more than 1.4 million in the middle of August, rising from around 650,000 people before the verification began. Subsequently, the regulator noted that VPN usage has since steadily declined, with current numbers standing at around 900,000. It clarified that the level of regular VPN use is “much lower” than user numbers for adult sites.
Teenagers Responding to Damaging Material
In other findings, the watchdog's report found that about 60% of young people aged 11 to 17 had taken action after seeing damaging content on the internet. Steps taken included flagging the content to the platform to blocking the person who posted it.
This survey was conducted before new regulations came into force that compel platforms to stop children from accessing dangerous content, such as material related to suicide and pornography. The primary way teenagers encountered such content was by scrolling through a social media feed, indicating that algorithms were showing harmful material.
Ministers Announce Review of Pornography Legislation
Separately, the ministers announced it would examine the criminal law governing pornography to consider whether it is adequate in the modern online world.
“The examination will investigate the effectiveness of the current law in relation to making illegal, among other things, damaging depictions of incest and any forms of pornography which encourage the abuse of children,” stated a justice minister.
Advocates Call For Tighter Online Controls
Advocates for tighter regulation of adult content have called on the authorities to outlaw so-called “barely legal” material. This encompasses content featuring incest scenes or that appears to promote child sexual abuse by using young-looking adults dressed as children.
Suggested amendments to legislation aim to:
- Ban pornography where performers are mimicking children, often recorded in settings like children’s bedrooms.
- Broaden the offence of making an exploitative portrayal of a child to cover material where an older performer plays the role of a child.
- Introduce stricter controls on incest-themed pornography, which studies suggests is often promoted by platform algorithms.
- Add further restrictions on “nudification” software, potentially making it an offence to own software designed to create private images without permission.
- Create a new, separate oversight agency to conduct spot checks on pornography sites and act on reports of unlawful content.
The campaigners argue that these measures would ensure the safeguards that have been enforced for years offline finally apply to the digital age.
