UK Pornography Traffic Falls Following Age Verifications, Yet Virtual Private Network Usage Spikes, Reports Watchdog
Access to pornography websites in the United Kingdom has fallen significantly since the enforcement of age-checking measures earlier this year, as reported by the country's communications authority. Simultaneously, the use of specialist software designed to bypass these restrictions has surged.
Immediate Drop in Visitor Figures Following Rule Implementation
The enforcement of age vetting on 25 July caused an swift decline in visits to popular online adult platforms, including the top site in the UK. Figures shows that visitor numbers to this platform in August were 9.8 million, a decrease of 1.5 million compared to the same period in 2024.
Overall, traffic to the ten top adult services in the UK have now stabilized at a “lower level” than before the late July implementation date. Subsequent analysis shows this slump in viewing continued past August.
Sharp Increase in Virtual Private Network Adoption to Bypass Checks
In response to the new rules, use of Virtual Private Networks (VPNs)—which can circumvent geographic blocks by masking connections via another nation—surged following 25 July.
User numbers reached a high at more than 1.4 million in the middle of August, up from around 650,000 users before the verification were introduced. Subsequently, the watchdog stated that VPN usage has since decreased, with latest numbers at around 900,000. It clarified that the level of daily VPN use is “much lower” than user numbers for pornography services.
Young People Taking Action to Harmful Online Content
In other findings, the watchdog's report found that about 60% of young people aged 11 to 17 had acted after seeing harmful content on the internet. Actions included flagging the content to the site to blocking the person who posted it.
This research was conducted prior to new regulations came into force that require social media companies to prevent children from seeing dangerous content, including material related to suicide and adult material. The most common way teenagers came across such content was by looking through a social media feed, suggesting that algorithms were serving inappropriate material.
Ministers Launch Review of Adult Content Legislation
Separately, the government stated it would review the criminal law governing pornography to consider whether it is effective in the ever-developing digital age.
“The review will look into the effectiveness of the existing law in relation to criminalising, for example, damaging depictions of incest and any forms of pornography which promote child sexual abuse,” stated a government official.
Campaigners Push For Tighter Digital Controls
Advocates for better regulation of online pornography have urged the government to outlaw so-called “barely legal” material. This includes content featuring incest scenes or that appears to promote abuse by casting young-looking performers dressed as children.
Suggested amendments to government bills seek to:
- Ban pornography where adults are impersonating children, often filmed in settings like children’s bedrooms.
- Extend the offence of making an exploitative portrayal of a child to cover material where an adult acts the part of a child.
- Apply stricter regulation on incest-themed pornography, which research suggests is heavily recommended by site algorithms.
- Introduce further controls on “nudification” software, potentially making it an illegal act to possess software designed to create non-consensual nude images.
- Establish a new, independent regulatory body to perform inspections on pornography sites and respond to reports of illegal content.
The campaigners argue that these measures would ensure the safeguards that have existed for decades in the physical world finally apply to the digital age.
