UK Pornography Site Visits Falls Following Identity Checks, But Virtual Private Network Usage Surges, States Regulator
Visitor numbers to adult content platforms in the United Kingdom has decreased markedly after the enforcement of mandatory age verification earlier this year, according to the country's communications authority. Simultaneously, the use of tools designed to bypass these barriers has increased.
Sharp Fall in Visitor Figures Following Rule Implementation
The introduction of age vetting on 25 July led to an swift decline in visits to leading pornography sites, including the most visited site in the UK. Figures indicates that visitor numbers to this platform in August reached 9.8 million, a decline of 1.5 million compared to the equivalent month in 2024.
Overall, traffic to the ten top pornography sites in the UK have now stabilized at a significantly reduced level than prior to the end-of-July implementation date. Subsequent analysis suggests this slump in viewing continued past August.
Surge in Virtual Private Network Usage to Evade Checks
Reacting to the new rules, adoption of Virtual Private Networks (VPNs)—which can get around location-based blocks by routing connections via another country—increased dramatically after 25 July.
User numbers peaked at more than 1.4 million in mid-August, rising from around 650,000 people before the checks began. Subsequently, the regulator noted that VPN usage has afterwards fallen back, with current numbers standing at approximately 900,000. It added that the volume of daily VPN use is “much lower” than user numbers for pornography sites.
Young People Taking Action to Damaging Material
Elsewhere, the watchdog's annual study revealed that about 60% of teenagers aged 11 to 17 had taken action after encountering harmful content on the internet. Actions ranged from flagging the content to the platform to muting the person who shared it.
This research was carried out before new rules came into force that require social media companies to stop children from seeing harmful content, such as material related to self-harm and pornography. The primary way teenagers encountered such content was by scrolling through a social media feed, suggesting that algorithms were showing inappropriate material.
Government Announce Examination of Adult Content Laws
Separately, the ministers announced it would review the criminal law relating to pornography to consider whether it is adequate in the modern digital age.
“The review will investigate the effectiveness of the current law in regarding criminalising, for example, damaging depictions of familial abuse and any forms of pornography which encourage the abuse of children,” said a justice minister.
Advocates Push For Tighter Online Controls
Campaigners for tighter regulation of adult content have called on the government to ban so-called “barely legal” material. This includes content featuring incest scenes or that encourages child sexual abuse by using young-looking adults dressed as children.
Proposed changes to legislation seek to:
- Prohibit pornography where adults are mimicking children, sometimes 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 platform algorithms.
- Add further controls on “nudification” software, potentially making it an offence to possess software designed to create private images without permission.
- Establish a new, independent regulatory body to perform inspections on pornography sites and act on reports of illegal content.
The advocates argue that these measures would ensure the safeguards that have been enforced for years in the physical world finally are extended to the online sphere.
