UK Pornography Traffic Declines After Identity Verifications, Yet VPN Usage Spikes, States Watchdog
Access to pornography websites in the UK has seen a notable drop since the introduction of age-checking measures earlier this year, as reported by the country's communications regulator. At the same time, the usage of specialist software designed to bypass these barriers has risen.
Sharp Fall in Visitor Figures After Law Enforcement
The enforcement of age verification on 25 July caused an immediate decline in visits to popular pornography sites, including the leading provider in the UK. Figures indicates that visitor numbers to this site in August were 9.8 million, a drop of 1.5 million compared to the equivalent month in 2024.
Overall, traffic to the 10 most-visited pornography sites in the UK have now stabilized at a significantly reduced level than before the end-of-July implementation date. Subsequent analysis indicates this downward trend in site visits persisted past August.
Sharp Increase in Virtual Private Network Adoption to Evade Checks
In response to the new rules, use of VPN software—which can bypass location-based restrictions by masking internet traffic via another country—surged after 25 July.
Usage peaked at more than 1.4 million in mid-August, rising from approximately 650,000 users prior to the verification began. Subsequently, the watchdog stated that VPN usage has since decreased, with current numbers at around 900,000. It clarified that the level of regular VPN use is “much lower” than user numbers for adult services.
Young People Taking Action to Damaging Material
In other findings, the watchdog's annual study revealed that about 60% of teenagers aged 11 to 17 had taken action after encountering harmful content online. Steps taken included flagging the content to the platform to muting the person who shared it.
This survey was conducted prior to new regulations came into force that require platforms to stop children from seeing harmful content, such as material related to self-harm and pornography. The most common way young people encountered such content was by scrolling through a social media timeline, indicating that recommendation systems were showing harmful material.
Government Launch Review of Adult Content Legislation
In a related development, the ministers stated it would examine the criminal law governing pornography to assess whether it is effective in the ever-developing online world.
“The review will investigate the effectiveness of the existing law in regarding making illegal, among other things, harmful portrayals of familial abuse and any forms of pornography which encourage child sexual abuse,” stated a government official.
Campaigners Push For Stricter Digital Controls
Advocates for better regulation of online pornography have urged the authorities to outlaw so-called “barely legal” material. This encompasses content featuring incest scenes or that appears to promote child sexual abuse by casting youthful adults dressed as children.
Proposed changes to government bills seek to:
- Ban pornography where performers are impersonating children, often recorded in environments like children’s bedrooms.
- Broaden the crime of creating an exploitative portrayal of a child to cover material where an adult plays the role of a child.
- Apply tighter controls on familial abuse pornography, which studies indicates is often promoted by platform algorithms.
- Introduce further controls on “nudification” technology, potentially making it an illegal act to possess software designed to create private images without permission.
- Create a new, independent oversight agency to conduct spot checks on adult platforms and act on reports of unlawful content.
The campaigners argue that these steps would ensure the safeguards that have been enforced for decades offline finally are extended to the online sphere.