UK Pornography Traffic Falls Following Identity Verifications, Yet VPN Use Spikes, States Regulator
Visitor numbers to adult content sites in the United Kingdom has seen a notable drop since the introduction of age-checking measures earlier this year, according to the country's communications watchdog. Concurrently, the usage of tools designed to dodge these blocks has increased.
Immediate Fall in Visitor Figures Following Rule Implementation
The introduction of age vetting on 25 July caused an immediate fall in traffic to major pornography sites, including the leading site in the UK. Data indicates that visitor numbers to this site in August stood at 9.8 million, a decrease of 1.5 million from the same period in 2024.
Overall, visitor numbers to the ten most-visited adult services in the UK have now stabilized at a markedly decreased volume than prior to the late July deadline. Subsequent data shows this downward trend in site visits persisted past August.
Surge in Virtual Private Network Adoption to Bypass Checks
Reacting to the new rules, use of VPN software—which can get around geographic restrictions by routing internet traffic via another country—more than doubled following 25 July.
User numbers peaked at more than 1.4 million in the middle of August, up from around 650,000 people prior to the verification were introduced. Subsequently, the watchdog noted that VPN usage has afterwards decreased, with current figures at approximately 900,000. It clarified that the volume of regular VPN use remains “much lower” than traffic for adult sites.
Teenagers Responding to Damaging Online Content
Elsewhere, the watchdog's annual study found that about 60% of teenagers aged 11 to 17 had taken action after encountering harmful content on the internet. Actions ranged from reporting the content to the site to muting the person who posted it.
This research was carried out prior to new regulations took effect that compel platforms to prevent children from accessing harmful content, including material related to suicide and pornography. The most common way teenagers came across such content was by scrolling through a platform feed, indicating that algorithms were showing inappropriate material.
Government Launch Review of Adult Content Laws
Separately, the government stated it would review the legislation relating to pornography to assess whether it is adequate in the modern online world.
“The review will investigate the efficacy of the existing law in relation to making illegal, for example, harmful depictions of familial abuse and any types of pornography which encourage child sexual abuse,” said a government official.
Advocates Push For Tighter Online Regulations
Campaigners for tighter regulation of adult content have called on 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 government bills seek to:
- Ban pornography where adults are impersonating children, often filmed in environments like children’s bedrooms.
- Extend the offence of creating an exploitative portrayal of a child to cover material where an adult plays the role of a child.
- Apply tighter regulation on familial abuse pornography, which studies indicates is heavily recommended by platform systems.
- Add further restrictions on “nudification” technology, potentially making it an offence to own software designed to generate non-consensual nude images.
- Establish a new, independent oversight agency to conduct inspections on pornography sites and respond to reports of unlawful content.
The advocates contend that these measures would ensure the protections that have been enforced for years offline finally apply to the digital age.
