UK Pornography Site Visits Falls Following Identity Verifications, But VPN Usage Spikes, States Regulator
Access to pornography sites in the United Kingdom has seen a notable drop after the roll-out of mandatory age verification this summer, according to the country's communications regulator. At the same time, the usage of specialist software designed to circumvent these restrictions has surged.
Sharp Fall in User Figures Following Law Implementation
The enforcement of age vetting on 25 July resulted in an swift decline in traffic to leading pornography sites, including the leading provider in the UK. Data indicates that user traffic to this site in August were 9.8 million, a drop of 1.5 million from the same period in 2024.
Overall, visitor numbers to the ten top adult services in the UK have now stabilized at a markedly decreased volume than before the late July deadline. Later analysis indicates this slump in viewing continued beyond August.
Sharp Increase in VPN Usage to Bypass Restrictions
In response to the new rules, use of Virtual Private Networks (VPNs)—which can circumvent location-based restrictions by routing internet traffic through another nation—more than doubled after 25 July.
User numbers reached a high at over 1.4 million in mid-August, up from around 650,000 users before the verification were introduced. However, the regulator stated that VPN usage has afterwards decreased, with latest figures at approximately 900,000. It clarified that the level of regular VPN use is “much lower” than traffic for adult sites.
Teenagers Responding to Harmful Online Content
Elsewhere, the watchdog's report revealed that about 60% of young people aged 11 to 17 had acted after encountering distressing content on the internet. Actions included reporting the content to the platform to muting the user who posted it.
This survey was carried out prior to new regulations came into force that require social media companies to stop children from seeing harmful content, such as material related to suicide and adult material. The primary way teenagers came across such content was by looking through a platform feed, indicating that algorithms were showing inappropriate material.
Government Launch Review of Pornography Laws
In a related development, the government announced it would examine the legislation governing pornography to consider whether it is adequate in the modern digital age.
“The review will investigate the effectiveness of the current law in regarding making illegal, for example, harmful depictions of familial abuse and any types of pornography which promote child sexual abuse,” said a government official.
Campaigners Call For Tighter Online Regulations
Advocates for tighter regulation of adult content have urged the government to ban so-called “barely legal” material. This encompasses content featuring incest scenes or that encourages child sexual abuse by casting youthful adults dressed as children.
Proposed changes to legislation aim to:
- Ban pornography where adults are mimicking children, often recorded in environments like children’s bedrooms.
- Extend the crime of making an indecent image of a child to include material where an older performer plays the role of a child.
- Apply tighter controls on familial abuse pornography, which studies suggests is heavily recommended by site systems.
- Introduce additional controls on “nudification” technology, potentially making it an offence to own tools designed to create non-consensual nude images.
- Create a new, separate oversight agency to conduct spot checks on adult platforms and respond to complaints of illegal content.
The advocates contend that these measures would ensure the protections that have been enforced for decades offline finally apply to the digital age.
