UK Pornography Site Visits Declines After Age Verifications, But VPN Use Spikes, States Regulator
Traffic to adult content websites in the United Kingdom has seen a notable drop after the enforcement of mandatory age verification earlier this year, as reported by the country's communications watchdog. At the same time, the use of tools designed to dodge these barriers has increased.
Immediate Fall in Visitor Numbers Following Rule Implementation
The introduction of age verification on 25 July led to an swift reduction in visits to leading pornography sites, including the leading site in the UK. Data reveals that visitor numbers to this site in August stood at 9.8 million, a drop of 1.5 million from the same period in 2024.
In total, traffic to the ten top pornography sites in the UK have now settled at a markedly decreased volume than prior to the end-of-July deadline. Later analysis suggests this slump in viewing persisted beyond August.
Sharp Increase in VPN Usage to Evade Checks
Reacting to the new regulations, use of VPN software—which can get around location-based blocks by masking internet traffic via another country—more than doubled after 25 July.
User numbers reached a high at over 1.4 million in the middle of August, up from around 650,000 people before the checks were introduced. However, the watchdog noted that VPN usage has since fallen back, with latest figures at around 900,000. It added that the level of daily VPN use is “much lower” than traffic for adult sites.
Young People Responding to Harmful Material
In other findings, the regulator's report revealed that about 60% of young people aged 11 to 17 had taken action after seeing damaging content on the internet. Actions included reporting the material to the platform to muting the user who posted it.
This research was conducted before new regulations took effect that compel social media companies to stop children from seeing dangerous content, including material related to self-harm and pornography. The primary way teenagers came across such content was by looking through a platform timeline, suggesting that recommendation systems were showing harmful material.
Government Announce Review of Adult Content Laws
In a related development, the ministers stated it would review the criminal law relating to pornography to consider whether it is adequate in the ever-developing online world.
“The review will investigate the effectiveness of the existing law in regarding criminalising, for example, damaging depictions of familial abuse and any types of pornography which encourage child sexual abuse,” said a justice minister.
Advocates Call For Tighter Digital Regulations
Advocates for better regulation of online pornography have urged the government to outlaw so-called “barely legal” material. This encompasses content featuring simulated familial abuse or that encourages abuse by using young-looking adults dressed as children.
Suggested changes to legislation aim to:
- Prohibit pornography where adults are mimicking children, sometimes filmed in environments like children’s bedrooms.
- Extend the crime of creating an indecent image of a child to cover material where an older performer plays the role of a child.
- Apply stricter controls on familial abuse pornography, which research indicates is heavily recommended by site algorithms.
- Introduce further restrictions on “nudification” software, potentially making it an offence to own tools designed to generate non-consensual nude images.
- Establish a new, separate regulatory body to perform inspections on pornography sites and act on complaints of illegal content.
The advocates contend that these measures would ensure the safeguards that have existed for years in the physical world finally apply to the online sphere.
