UK Pornography Site Visits Falls After Age Verifications, But VPN Usage Surges, States Regulator
Access to adult content platforms in the United Kingdom has seen a notable drop since the enforcement of mandatory age verification earlier this year, as reported by the country's communications regulator. Simultaneously, the adoption of specialist software designed to bypass these restrictions has risen.
Immediate Drop in Visitor Figures Following Law Implementation
The introduction of age vetting on 25 July caused an swift fall in visits to leading pornography sites, such as the leading provider in the UK. Figures shows that visitor numbers to this site in August were 9.8 million, a decline of 1.5 million from the same period in 2024.
In total, traffic to the 10 top adult services in the UK have now stabilized at a significantly reduced level than before the late July implementation date. Subsequent data indicates this downward trend in site visits continued beyond August.
Surge in VPN Adoption to Evade Restrictions
In response to the new rules, adoption of VPN software—which can bypass geographic blocks by masking connections via another nation—increased dramatically after 25 July.
User numbers reached a high at more than 1.4 million in the middle of August, rising from approximately 650,000 people before the verification were introduced. Subsequently, the watchdog noted that VPN usage has since steadily declined, with latest figures standing at around 900,000. It clarified that the level of daily VPN use remains “much lower” than traffic for adult sites.
Teenagers Responding to Harmful Material
In other findings, the watchdog's report found that about 60% of young people aged 11 to 17 had acted after seeing damaging content online. Steps taken ranged from flagging the content to the platform to blocking the user who shared it.
This survey was carried out before new regulations took effect that compel social media companies to stop children from seeing dangerous content, including material related to self-harm and adult material. The most common way teenagers came across such content was by looking through a social media feed, indicating that algorithms were showing harmful material.
Government Announce Examination of Pornography Laws
In a related development, the government stated it would review the criminal law governing pornography to assess whether it is adequate in the modern online world.
“The review will look into the efficacy of the current law in relation to making illegal, for example, harmful depictions of incest and any types of pornography which promote child sexual abuse,” said a government official.
Campaigners Call For Stricter Online Regulations
Advocates for tighter regulation of online pornography have called on the authorities to ban so-called “barely legal” material. This includes content featuring incest scenes or that encourages child sexual abuse by casting youthful adults dressed as children.
Suggested amendments to legislation aim to:
- Ban pornography where performers are impersonating children, often filmed in environments like children’s bedrooms.
- Extend the offence of making an indecent image of a child to include material where an older performer plays the role of a child.
- Introduce tighter controls on incest-themed pornography, which studies indicates is often promoted by platform systems.
- Introduce additional controls on “nudification” technology, potentially making it an illegal act to possess software designed to generate non-consensual nude images.
- Establish a new, independent regulatory body to perform inspections on pornography sites and act on complaints of illegal content.
The campaigners contend that these steps would ensure the safeguards that have existed for years offline finally apply to the digital age.
