British Pornography Traffic Declines After Age Checks, But VPN Usage Surges, Reports Regulator
Traffic to adult content websites in the UK has seen a notable drop after the introduction of mandatory age verification earlier this year, as reported by the country's communications regulator. Concurrently, the use of specialist software designed to circumvent these restrictions has risen.
Sharp Fall in User Figures Following Rule Enforcement
The introduction of age verification on 25 July caused an swift fall in visits to popular pornography sites, including the most visited site in the UK. Figures indicates that user traffic to this site in August reached 9.8 million, a drop of 1.5 million from the equivalent month in 2024.
In total, visitor numbers to the ten top pornography sites in the UK have now settled at a “lower level” than before the late July deadline. Subsequent analysis indicates this decline in site visits persisted beyond August.
Sharp Increase in Virtual Private Network 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 country—surged following 25 July.
Usage reached a high at more than 1.4 million in mid-August, up from around 650,000 users before the verification were introduced. However, the watchdog noted that VPN usage has since fallen back, with current figures standing at around 900,000. It clarified that the level of daily VPN use remains “much lower” than traffic for pornography sites.
Teenagers Responding to Harmful Online Content
Elsewhere, the regulator's report revealed that about 60% of young people aged 11 to 17 had acted after encountering damaging content online. Actions ranged from reporting the content to the site to muting the person who shared it.
This research was carried out before new rules came into force that compel platforms to stop children from seeing dangerous content, including material related to self-harm and pornography. The primary way young people encountered such content was by looking through a social media feed, indicating that algorithms were serving inappropriate material.
Government Launch Review of Pornography Laws
In a related development, the government stated it would review the legislation relating to pornography to assess whether it is “fit for purpose” in the ever-developing digital age.
“The review will investigate the effectiveness of the current law in regarding criminalising, for example, damaging portrayals of incest and any types of pornography which promote child sexual abuse,” said a government official.
Advocates Call For Tighter Digital Controls
Advocates for tighter regulation of adult content have called on the authorities to outlaw so-called “barely legal” material. This encompasses content featuring incest scenes or that appears to promote child sexual abuse by using youthful adults portraying children.
Suggested amendments to government bills aim to:
- Ban pornography where adults are mimicking children, often recorded in environments like children’s bedrooms.
- Broaden the offence of making an indecent image of a child to include material where an older performer acts the part of a child.
- Apply stricter regulation on incest-themed pornography, which research suggests is often promoted by platform systems.
- Introduce additional controls on “nudification” software, potentially making it an illegal act to possess software designed to create non-consensual nude images.
- Create a new, independent oversight agency to perform spot checks on adult platforms and act on complaints of illegal content.
The campaigners contend that these steps would ensure the safeguards that have been enforced for years offline finally apply to the digital age.
