UK Pornography Site Visits Declines Following Age Checks, But Virtual Private Network Use Surges, States Regulator
Traffic to adult content platforms in the UK has decreased markedly after the roll-out of mandatory age verification earlier this year, as reported by the country's communications authority. Concurrently, the use of tools designed to circumvent these blocks has increased.
Sharp Drop in User Numbers After Rule Enforcement
The introduction of age verification on 25 July led to an swift decline in traffic to major pornography sites, including the top site in the UK. Data reveals that visitor numbers to this platform in August were 9.8 million, a decline of 1.5 million compared to the same period in 2024.
Overall, visitor numbers to the 10 top adult services in the UK have now stabilized at a markedly decreased volume than prior to the late July deadline. Later analysis indicates this decline in site visits persisted beyond August.
Sharp Increase in VPN Usage to Evade Restrictions
In response to the new rules, adoption of VPN software—which can bypass location-based blocks by masking connections via another nation—surged following 25 July.
User numbers reached a high at over 1.4 million in the middle of August, rising from approximately 650,000 users prior to the checks were introduced. Subsequently, the regulator noted that VPN usage has afterwards 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 sites.
Young People Taking Action to Damaging Material
Elsewhere, the watchdog's report revealed that about 60% of teenagers aged 11 to 17 had taken action after seeing distressing content on the internet. Steps taken included flagging the content to the site to muting the person who shared it.
This research was conducted prior to new rules took effect that require social media companies to stop children from accessing harmful content, such as material related to self-harm and pornography. The most common way young people came across such content was by scrolling through a social media timeline, indicating that algorithms were showing harmful material.
Ministers Announce Examination of Adult Content Laws
Separately, the government stated it would examine the criminal law relating to pornography to consider whether it is effective in the modern digital age.
“The review will investigate the effectiveness of the existing law in regarding making illegal, for example, harmful depictions of familial abuse and any forms of pornography which encourage child sexual abuse,” stated a government official.
Advocates Call For Tighter Online Controls
Advocates for better control of adult content have called on the authorities to outlaw so-called “barely legal” material. This includes content featuring incest scenes or that encourages child sexual abuse by casting young-looking adults dressed as children.
Suggested amendments to legislation seek to:
- Prohibit pornography where performers are mimicking children, often filmed in environments like children’s bedrooms.
- Extend the offence of making an indecent image of a child to include material where an adult acts the part of a child.
- Introduce tighter controls on familial abuse pornography, which studies indicates is heavily recommended by platform algorithms.
- Add additional controls on “nudification” software, potentially making it an offence to own tools designed to create non-consensual nude images.
- Establish a new, separate oversight agency to conduct inspections on adult platforms and respond to complaints of illegal content.
The campaigners contend that these steps would ensure the safeguards that have been enforced for years in the physical world finally are extended to the online sphere.
