UK Pornography Traffic Declines After Identity Verifications, Yet Virtual Private Network Usage Spikes, States Regulator
Visitor numbers to adult content sites in the UK has seen a notable drop since the enforcement of mandatory age verification earlier this year, according to the nation's communications regulator. At the same time, the use of tools designed to bypass these restrictions has risen.
Sharp Fall in Visitor Numbers After Rule Enforcement
The introduction of age vetting on 25 July led to an immediate fall in traffic to popular online adult platforms, such as the leading site in the UK. Figures shows that visitor numbers to this site in August reached 9.8 million, a drop of 1.5 million compared to the equivalent month in 2024.
In total, traffic to the 10 most-visited pornography sites in the UK have now settled at a significantly reduced level than prior to the late July deadline. Subsequent analysis shows this downward trend in viewing persisted past August.
Surge in Virtual Private Network Adoption to Evade Checks
Reacting to the new regulations, adoption of VPN software—which can circumvent location-based blocks by masking connections via another country—more than doubled following 25 July.
User numbers reached a high at over 1.4 million in mid-August, rising from around 650,000 people prior to the checks were introduced. However, the regulator noted that VPN usage has afterwards steadily declined, with current numbers at approximately 900,000. It clarified that the volume of daily VPN use remains “much lower” than traffic for pornography services.
Teenagers Taking Action to Damaging Material
In other findings, the regulator's report found that about 60% of young people aged 11 to 17 had acted after encountering damaging content on the internet. Actions included reporting the content to the platform to muting the user who shared it.
This research was conducted prior to new rules came into force that compel social media companies to stop children from accessing 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 feed, indicating that recommendation systems were showing inappropriate material.
Ministers Announce Review of Adult Content Laws
In a related development, the government announced it would review the criminal law relating to pornography to assess whether it is adequate in the ever-developing digital age.
“The examination will look into the efficacy of the existing law in regarding criminalising, for example, harmful portrayals of incest and any types of pornography which promote child sexual abuse,” said a justice minister.
Advocates Push For Tighter Digital Controls
Advocates for tighter regulation of online pornography have called on the government to outlaw so-called “barely legal” material. This includes content featuring incest scenes or that appears to promote abuse by using youthful performers dressed as children.
Proposed changes to legislation aim to:
- Prohibit pornography where adults are mimicking children, sometimes filmed in settings like children’s bedrooms.
- Broaden the crime of making an indecent image of a child to cover material where an older performer acts the part of a child.
- Introduce tighter controls on incest-themed pornography, which research suggests is heavily recommended by platform systems.
- Add additional restrictions on “nudification” software, potentially making it an offence to own tools designed to generate private images without permission.
- Establish a new, separate regulatory body to conduct inspections on adult platforms and respond to complaints of unlawful content.
The advocates argue that these steps would ensure the protections that have existed for decades in the physical world finally apply to the digital age.
