UK Adult Content Site Visits Falls After Age Verifications, Yet VPN Use Spikes, Reports Watchdog
Traffic to pornography websites in the UK has seen a notable drop since the introduction of age-checking measures this summer, according to the nation's communications regulator. At the same time, the adoption of specialist software designed to bypass these restrictions has surged.
Immediate Drop in User Numbers After Rule Implementation
The enforcement of age verification on 25 July led to an immediate fall in visits to leading pornography sites, including the leading provider in the UK. Figures indicates that visitor numbers to this platform in August were 9.8 million, a decline of 1.5 million from the equivalent month in 2024.
Overall, visitor numbers to the 10 most-visited pornography sites in the UK have now settled at a “lower level” than prior to the late July deadline. Subsequent analysis shows this decline in site visits persisted past August.
Sharp Increase in VPN Adoption to Evade Checks
Reacting to the new regulations, adoption of VPN software—which can get around geographic restrictions by masking connections via another nation—surged after 25 July.
Usage peaked at over 1.4 million in the middle of August, up from approximately 650,000 users before the verification were introduced. Subsequently, the regulator stated that VPN usage has afterwards decreased, with latest numbers standing at around 900,000. It added that the level of daily VPN use is “much lower” than user numbers for pornography sites.
Teenagers Taking Action to Damaging Online Content
Elsewhere, the regulator's report revealed that about 60% of young people aged 11 to 17 had taken action after encountering damaging content online. Steps taken ranged from flagging the content to the site to muting the user who shared it.
This research was conducted before new rules came into force that compel social media companies to stop children from accessing dangerous content, such as material related to self-harm and adult material. The primary way young people came across such content was by looking through a platform feed, indicating that algorithms were serving harmful material.
Ministers Announce Review of Adult Content Legislation
Separately, the ministers announced it would review the criminal law relating to pornography to consider whether it is adequate in the modern online world.
“The examination will investigate the effectiveness of the existing law in regarding making illegal, among other things, harmful portrayals of familial abuse and any types of pornography which promote the abuse of children,” stated a justice minister.
Advocates Push For Stricter Online Regulations
Advocates for tighter regulation of online pornography have called on the government to outlaw so-called “barely legal” material. This encompasses content featuring simulated familial abuse or that appears to promote abuse by casting young-looking adults portraying children.
Proposed amendments to government bills seek to:
- Ban pornography where performers are impersonating children, sometimes filmed in settings like children’s bedrooms.
- Extend the offence of making an indecent image of a child to include material where an adult plays the role of a child.
- Introduce stricter regulation on familial abuse pornography, which research suggests is often promoted by platform algorithms.
- Introduce additional controls on “nudification” software, potentially making it an offence to possess tools designed to create non-consensual nude images.
- Establish a new, independent oversight agency to conduct inspections on adult platforms and act on complaints of illegal content.
The campaigners argue that these measures would ensure the safeguards that have existed for decades in the physical world finally are extended to the digital age.
