UK Pornography Site Visits Declines After Age Verifications, But Virtual Private Network Usage Spikes, Reports Regulator
Access to pornography websites in the UK has decreased markedly since the enforcement of mandatory age verification this summer, as reported by the country's communications watchdog. Simultaneously, the use of tools designed to bypass these barriers has surged.
Immediate Fall in Visitor Numbers After Rule Enforcement
The introduction of age verification on 25 July resulted in an prompt decline in traffic to popular pornography sites, including the leading site in the UK. Figures indicates that user traffic to this site in August stood at 9.8 million, a decline of 1.5 million compared to the equivalent month in 2024.
In total, traffic to the ten top pornography sites in the UK have now stabilized at a significantly reduced level than before the late July implementation date. Subsequent analysis suggests this downward trend in site visits continued past August.
Sharp Increase in Virtual Private Network Adoption to Evade Checks
In response to the new regulations, adoption of VPN software—which can circumvent location-based restrictions by routing internet traffic through 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 around 650,000 people prior to the verification were introduced. However, the regulator noted that VPN usage has since fallen back, with latest numbers standing at approximately 900,000. It clarified that the level of daily VPN use is “much lower” than user numbers for adult services.
Teenagers Responding to Damaging Material
In other findings, the watchdog's report found that about 60% of young people aged 11 to 17 had acted after encountering damaging content on the internet. Actions included flagging the material to the site to blocking the person who shared it.
This survey was carried out prior to new rules took effect that compel platforms to prevent children from accessing dangerous content, such as material related to suicide and adult material. The most common way young people encountered such content was by scrolling through a social media timeline, indicating that algorithms were showing harmful material.
Government Announce Review of Pornography Laws
Separately, the ministers stated it would examine the criminal law governing pornography to assess whether it is effective in the modern online world.
“The examination will investigate the effectiveness of the existing law in regarding making illegal, among other things, damaging portrayals of incest and any forms of pornography which encourage child sexual abuse,” said a justice minister.
Advocates Push For Stricter Online Controls
Campaigners for better control 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 portraying children.
Proposed changes to legislation seek to:
- Prohibit pornography where performers are mimicking children, sometimes filmed in settings like children’s bedrooms.
- Extend the offence of creating an exploitative portrayal of a child to include material where an adult plays the role of a child.
- Introduce tighter regulation on incest-themed pornography, which research suggests is often promoted by site algorithms.
- Add additional restrictions on “nudification” software, potentially making it an illegal act to own software designed to create non-consensual nude images.
- Establish a new, separate regulatory body to perform spot checks on adult platforms and act on reports of unlawful content.
The campaigners argue that these steps would ensure the protections that have existed for years in the physical world finally apply to the digital age.
