UK Pornography Site Visits Falls After Age Checks, But VPN Usage Spikes, Reports Regulator
Traffic to adult content platforms in the UK has fallen significantly after the enforcement of age-checking measures earlier this year, as reported by the country's communications authority. Simultaneously, the usage of specialist software designed to circumvent these barriers has risen.
Immediate Fall in User Numbers Following Law Implementation
The enforcement of age vetting on 25 July caused an swift fall in traffic to leading pornography sites, including the most visited site in the UK. Figures shows that visitor numbers to this platform in August stood at 9.8 million, a decrease of 1.5 million compared to the same period in 2024.
In total, visitor numbers to the 10 most-visited adult services in the UK have now settled at a significantly reduced level than prior to the late July implementation date. Subsequent data shows this slump in site visits continued beyond August.
Surge in Virtual Private Network Usage to Evade Checks
Reacting to the new rules, adoption of Virtual Private Networks (VPNs)—which can get around geographic restrictions by masking connections through another country—surged after 25 July.
User numbers reached a high at over 1.4 million in mid-August, rising from approximately 650,000 people before the verification were introduced. However, the regulator noted that VPN usage has afterwards fallen back, with latest figures standing at approximately 900,000. It added that the volume of regular VPN use is “much lower” than traffic for pornography services.
Teenagers Responding to Damaging Material
Elsewhere, the regulator's annual study revealed that about 60% of teenagers aged 11 to 17 had taken action after encountering harmful content online. Actions included flagging the content to the site to blocking the user who shared it.
This survey was conducted before new regulations came into force that compel platforms to prevent children from seeing dangerous content, such as material related to suicide and pornography. The most common way young people came across such content was by scrolling through a social media timeline, indicating that algorithms were serving harmful material.
Government Launch Examination of Adult Content Legislation
Separately, the government stated it would review the criminal law governing pornography to consider whether it is “fit for purpose” in the ever-developing online world.
“The review will investigate the effectiveness of the existing law in relation to making illegal, for example, harmful depictions of incest and any forms of pornography which promote the abuse of children,” stated a justice minister.
Campaigners Push For Tighter Online Controls
Advocates for tighter control of adult content have urged the government to ban so-called “barely legal” material. This encompasses content featuring incest scenes or that encourages child sexual abuse by using youthful performers dressed as children.
Suggested amendments to legislation seek to:
- Ban pornography where adults are impersonating children, sometimes recorded in settings like children’s bedrooms.
- Extend the offence of creating an indecent image of a child to cover material where an older performer acts the part of a child.
- Introduce stricter controls on familial abuse pornography, which research suggests is heavily recommended by platform algorithms.
- Add further restrictions on “nudification” software, potentially making it an offence to possess software designed to create non-consensual nude images.
- Establish a new, separate oversight agency to perform inspections on pornography sites and respond to complaints of unlawful content.
The advocates argue that these steps would ensure the safeguards that have been enforced for decades in the physical world finally apply to the digital age.
