UK Pornography Traffic Falls After Age Verifications, But Virtual Private Network Usage Surges, States Regulator
Access to adult content sites in the UK has fallen significantly since the roll-out of age-checking measures this summer, as reported by the country's communications regulator. At the same time, the use of tools designed to dodge these barriers has risen.
Immediate Drop in User Figures Following Rule Implementation
The introduction of age verification on 25 July led to an swift fall in visits to major online adult platforms, such as the top provider in the UK. Data indicates that visitor numbers to this site in August stood at 9.8 million, a decline of 1.5 million compared to the same period in 2024.
Overall, traffic to the 10 most-visited adult services in the UK have now settled at a significantly reduced level than before the late July deadline. Subsequent analysis shows this downward trend in viewing continued past August.
Surge in VPN Usage to Evade Checks
Reacting to the new rules, use of VPN software—which can get around geographic restrictions by routing internet traffic via another nation—more than doubled following 25 July.
Usage reached a high at over 1.4 million in mid-August, up from around 650,000 people prior to the checks began. Subsequently, the watchdog noted that VPN usage has afterwards decreased, with latest figures standing at around 900,000. It added that the level of daily VPN use remains “much lower” than user numbers for adult sites.
Young People Responding to Damaging Online Content
Elsewhere, the watchdog's report found that about 60% of teenagers aged 11 to 17 had taken action after encountering damaging content online. Actions ranged from reporting the material to the platform to blocking the user who shared it.
This survey was carried out before new regulations took effect that require platforms to stop children from accessing harmful content, such as material related to self-harm and pornography. The most common way young people encountered such content was by scrolling through a social media timeline, indicating that algorithms were showing harmful material.
Government Announce Examination of Pornography Legislation
In a related development, the ministers announced it would examine the criminal law governing pornography to assess whether it is effective in the modern digital age.
“The review will look into the effectiveness of the current law in regarding making illegal, among other things, damaging depictions of familial abuse and any forms of pornography which promote child sexual abuse,” stated a justice minister.
Advocates Push For Tighter Digital Controls
Campaigners for better control of adult content have urged the government to outlaw so-called “barely legal” material. This includes content featuring incest scenes or that encourages abuse by using youthful adults portraying children.
Proposed changes to government bills aim to:
- Prohibit pornography where performers are impersonating children, sometimes filmed in settings like children’s bedrooms.
- Broaden the crime of creating an exploitative portrayal of a child to include material where an adult acts the part of a child.
- Introduce tighter regulation on familial abuse pornography, which research indicates is heavily recommended by platform algorithms.
- Introduce further restrictions on “nudification” technology, potentially making it an offence to possess software designed to generate non-consensual nude images.
- Establish a new, separate oversight agency to conduct spot checks on adult platforms and act on reports of unlawful content.
The advocates argue that these steps would ensure the safeguards that have been enforced for years in the physical world finally apply to the online sphere.
