UK Pornography Site Visits Declines Following Age Verifications, But Virtual Private Network Use Surges, States Regulator
Traffic to pornography websites in the UK has fallen significantly since the introduction of mandatory age verification earlier this year, according to the country's communications regulator. Concurrently, the adoption of specialist software designed to dodge these blocks has surged.
Immediate Drop in User Figures After Law Enforcement
The introduction of age vetting on 25 July caused an immediate decline in visits to major pornography sites, such as the most visited provider in the UK. Figures indicates that user traffic to this platform in August reached 9.8 million, a decrease of 1.5 million from the same period in 2024.
Overall, traffic to the 10 top adult services in the UK have now stabilized at a significantly reduced level than prior to the late July deadline. Subsequent analysis suggests this slump in site visits persisted beyond August.
Surge in Virtual Private Network Adoption to Evade Restrictions
Reacting to the new regulations, adoption of VPN software—which can circumvent geographic restrictions by masking connections through another nation—surged following 25 July.
Usage peaked at more than 1.4 million in the middle of August, up from around 650,000 people prior to the checks were introduced. However, the watchdog noted that VPN usage has afterwards steadily declined, with latest figures standing at approximately 900,000. It clarified that the volume of regular VPN use is “much lower” than traffic for pornography sites.
Young People Taking Action to Harmful Material
Elsewhere, the regulator's report found that about 60% of teenagers aged 11 to 17 had taken action after seeing harmful content on the internet. Actions ranged from flagging the content to the site to muting the person who posted it.
This research was carried out prior to new rules took effect that require platforms to prevent children from seeing dangerous content, including material related to suicide and adult material. The most common way teenagers encountered such content was by looking through a social media timeline, indicating that algorithms were serving harmful material.
Government Announce Examination of Pornography Legislation
Separately, the government stated it would review the legislation relating to pornography to assess whether it is “fit for purpose” in the ever-developing digital age.
“The examination will look into the effectiveness of the current law in relation to making illegal, among other things, damaging portrayals of familial abuse and any types of pornography which promote the abuse of children,” stated a justice minister.
Advocates Push For Tighter Online Controls
Campaigners for better regulation of online pornography have called on the authorities to ban so-called “barely legal” material. This encompasses content featuring incest scenes or that encourages child sexual abuse by casting young-looking performers dressed as children.
Proposed changes to legislation aim to:
- Prohibit pornography where performers are mimicking children, often recorded in settings like children’s bedrooms.
- Broaden the offence of creating an exploitative portrayal of a child to cover material where an adult plays the role of a child.
- Introduce tighter controls on incest-themed pornography, which studies suggests is often promoted by platform algorithms.
- Add additional restrictions on “nudification” technology, potentially making it an offence to own software designed to generate private images without permission.
- Establish a new, separate oversight agency to perform inspections on pornography sites and respond to complaints of illegal content.
The campaigners contend that these measures would ensure the safeguards that have been enforced for decades offline finally apply to the online sphere.