British Pornography Site Visits Falls After Age Checks, But VPN Use Surges, States Regulator
Traffic to adult content websites in the UK has seen a notable drop after the enforcement of age-checking measures earlier this year, as reported by the country's communications authority. At the same time, the usage of tools designed to circumvent these barriers has surged.
Sharp Fall in User Numbers Following Law Implementation
The introduction of age verification on 25 July resulted in an prompt reduction in traffic to popular pornography sites, including the leading site in the UK. Figures reveals that user traffic to this platform in August were 9.8 million, a drop of 1.5 million compared to the equivalent month in 2024.
In total, visitor numbers to the ten most-visited adult services in the UK have now stabilized at a “lower level” than prior to the end-of-July deadline. Later analysis suggests this slump in site visits continued beyond August.
Surge in VPN Adoption to Bypass Restrictions
In response to the new rules, adoption of Virtual Private Networks (VPNs)—which can get around location-based blocks by masking internet traffic via another country—surged after 25 July.
User numbers peaked at more than 1.4 million in the middle of August, up from around 650,000 people before the checks were introduced. Subsequently, the regulator noted that VPN usage has since decreased, with latest figures at around 900,000. It clarified that the level of daily VPN use remains “much lower” than user numbers for adult services.
Young People Taking Action 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 distressing content online. Actions included flagging the material to the site to blocking the user who shared it.
This research was conducted before new regulations came into force that require platforms to prevent children from accessing dangerous content, such as material related to self-harm and adult material. The most common way young people came across such content was by looking through a social media feed, suggesting that recommendation systems were showing inappropriate material.
Ministers Launch Examination of Adult Content Laws
Separately, the ministers stated it would review the criminal law relating to pornography to assess whether it is “fit for purpose” in the modern digital age.
“The examination will look into the efficacy of the existing law in relation to criminalising, among other things, damaging depictions of incest and any types of pornography which encourage child sexual abuse,” said a government official.
Advocates Push For Tighter Digital Controls
Campaigners for tighter regulation of online pornography have called on the authorities to ban so-called “barely legal” material. This includes content featuring simulated familial abuse or that appears to promote child sexual abuse by using young-looking performers portraying children.
Proposed amendments to legislation aim to:
- Ban pornography where adults are mimicking children, often filmed in settings like children’s bedrooms.
- Extend the crime of making an indecent image of a child to cover material where an older performer plays the role of a child.
- Introduce stricter controls on incest-themed pornography, which research suggests is heavily recommended by site systems.
- Introduce additional restrictions on “nudification” software, potentially making it an illegal act to possess tools designed to generate private images without permission.
- Create a new, separate regulatory body to perform inspections on adult platforms and act on complaints of unlawful content.
The advocates contend that these steps would ensure the safeguards that have existed for years offline finally apply to the digital age.
