UK Pornography Site Visits Declines Following Age Verifications, Yet VPN Use Surges, Reports Regulator
Traffic to adult content platforms in the UK has seen a notable drop since the enforcement of age-checking measures this summer, as reported by the country's communications watchdog. Simultaneously, the use of specialist software designed to dodge these restrictions has risen.
Immediate Fall in Visitor Figures Following Rule Implementation
The enforcement of age verification on 25 July caused an prompt decline in traffic to popular online adult platforms, such as the top site in the UK. Figures shows that visitor numbers 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 10 top adult services in the UK have now settled at a markedly decreased volume than before the end-of-July deadline. Later data shows this slump in viewing continued beyond August.
Sharp Increase in VPN Adoption to Bypass Restrictions
In response to the new regulations, use of Virtual Private Networks (VPNs)—which can circumvent location-based restrictions by masking internet traffic through another country—more than doubled following 25 July.
Usage reached a high at over 1.4 million in mid-August, rising from approximately 650,000 users prior to the verification were introduced. However, the watchdog stated that VPN usage has since steadily declined, with latest numbers at approximately 900,000. It added that the level of daily VPN use is “much lower” than traffic for adult sites.
Teenagers Taking Action to Damaging Online Content
Elsewhere, the watchdog's report revealed that about 60% of young people aged 11 to 17 had acted after encountering harmful content on the internet. Steps taken ranged from reporting the content to the site to muting the user who posted it.
This survey was carried out prior to new rules took effect that compel platforms to stop children from seeing harmful content, such as material related to suicide and adult material. The most common way young people encountered such content was by looking through a platform timeline, indicating that recommendation systems were serving harmful material.
Government Launch Review of Pornography Legislation
Separately, the ministers announced it would review the legislation governing pornography to consider whether it is effective in the ever-developing online world.
“The review will investigate the effectiveness of the existing law in relation to criminalising, among other things, damaging depictions of incest and any forms of pornography which encourage child sexual abuse,” said a government official.
Advocates Push For Tighter Online Controls
Campaigners for better regulation of adult content have urged the government to outlaw so-called “barely legal” material. This includes content featuring simulated familial abuse or that encourages abuse by casting youthful performers portraying children.
Proposed changes to government bills seek to:
- Ban pornography where performers are impersonating children, often recorded in settings like children’s bedrooms.
- Extend the crime of making an exploitative portrayal of a child to include material where an older performer plays the role of a child.
- Apply stricter regulation on familial abuse pornography, which research suggests is often promoted by site systems.
- Introduce additional restrictions on “nudification” software, potentially making it an offence to possess software designed to create private images without permission.
- Establish a new, separate regulatory body to perform spot checks on adult platforms and act on reports of unlawful content.
The campaigners contend that these measures would ensure the safeguards that have been enforced for decades offline finally are extended to the online sphere.