British Pornography Site Visits Declines Following Identity Checks, Yet VPN Use Spikes, States Watchdog
Traffic to adult content sites in the United Kingdom has seen a notable drop after the roll-out of mandatory age verification this summer, according to the nation's communications watchdog. Concurrently, the use of tools designed to dodge these barriers has risen.
Immediate Drop in Visitor Figures Following Law Implementation
The introduction of age vetting on 25 July led to an prompt fall in visits to major online adult platforms, including the most visited provider in the UK. Data shows that user traffic to this site in August were 9.8 million, a drop 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 prior to the end-of-July implementation date. Later data indicates this decline in viewing continued beyond August.
Surge in Virtual Private Network Usage to Evade Checks
Reacting to the new rules, adoption of VPN software—which can circumvent location-based restrictions by routing internet traffic through another nation—surged following 25 July.
User numbers reached a high at over 1.4 million in the middle of August, up from approximately 650,000 people before the checks were introduced. However, the watchdog stated that VPN usage has afterwards steadily declined, with latest numbers standing at approximately 900,000. It added that the volume of daily VPN use remains “much lower” than traffic for adult services.
Young People Responding to Damaging Online Content
Elsewhere, the watchdog's annual study revealed that about 60% of teenagers aged 11 to 17 had taken action after encountering distressing content online. Actions ranged from reporting the content to the site to muting the user who posted it.
This research was conducted prior to new rules took effect that require social media companies to stop children from accessing dangerous content, such as material related to suicide and adult material. The primary way teenagers encountered such content was by looking through a social media timeline, suggesting that algorithms were serving harmful material.
Government Launch Examination of Adult Content Laws
Separately, the ministers announced it would review the criminal law governing pornography to assess whether it is effective in the modern digital age.
“The examination will investigate the efficacy of the current law in relation to making illegal, for example, damaging depictions of familial abuse and any types of pornography which encourage the abuse of children,” stated a justice minister.
Advocates Call For Stricter Digital Controls
Campaigners for better control of adult content have urged the government to ban so-called “barely legal” material. This includes content featuring simulated familial abuse or that appears to promote abuse by casting youthful performers dressed as children.
Proposed amendments to government bills seek to:
- Prohibit pornography where adults are impersonating children, often recorded in environments like children’s bedrooms.
- Broaden the offence of creating an indecent image of a child to cover material where an adult plays the role of a child.
- Apply tighter controls on familial abuse pornography, which research indicates is often promoted by platform algorithms.
- Add further controls on “nudification” software, potentially making it an offence to own software designed to generate private images without permission.
- Create a new, independent regulatory body to conduct inspections on pornography sites and respond to complaints of unlawful content.
The campaigners argue that these measures would ensure the safeguards that have been enforced for decades offline finally apply to the online sphere.