British Pornography Traffic Declines Following Identity Checks, Yet VPN Usage Surges, Reports Regulator
Visitor numbers to adult content sites in the United Kingdom has fallen significantly after the introduction of age-checking measures earlier this year, according to the country's communications regulator. Simultaneously, the use of specialist software designed to dodge these blocks has risen.
Sharp Drop in Visitor Numbers Following Law Enforcement
The enforcement of age verification on 25 July led to an prompt reduction in visits to popular online adult platforms, such as the leading provider in the UK. Data reveals that visitor numbers to this site in August stood at 9.8 million, a drop of 1.5 million from the equivalent month in 2024.
Overall, traffic to the ten most-visited adult services in the UK have now settled at a “lower level” than prior to the end-of-July deadline. Later analysis shows this decline in site visits continued beyond August.
Sharp Increase in VPN Adoption to Bypass Restrictions
Reacting to the new regulations, use of VPN software—which can circumvent location-based blocks by routing internet traffic through another country—increased dramatically following 25 July.
User numbers reached a high at over 1.4 million in the middle of August, up from around 650,000 users prior to the checks began. However, the regulator noted that VPN usage has afterwards fallen back, with latest figures at approximately 900,000. It added that the level of daily VPN use remains “much lower” than user numbers for pornography sites.
Young People Responding to Harmful Material
In other findings, the watchdog's annual study revealed that about 60% of young people aged 11 to 17 had taken action after seeing distressing content on the internet. Steps taken included flagging the content to the platform to muting the user who posted it.
This research was carried out prior to new rules took effect that require platforms to stop children from seeing harmful content, including material related to self-harm and pornography. The most common way teenagers encountered such content was by looking through a platform feed, indicating that recommendation systems were serving inappropriate material.
Government Launch Review of Adult Content Laws
Separately, the ministers announced it would examine the criminal law governing pornography to assess whether it is “fit for purpose” in the modern digital age.
“The review will investigate the effectiveness of the existing law in regarding criminalising, among other things, damaging portrayals of familial abuse and any forms of pornography which promote child sexual abuse,” stated a justice minister.
Advocates Push For Tighter Online Regulations
Campaigners for tighter control of online pornography have urged the government to outlaw so-called “barely legal” material. This includes content featuring simulated familial abuse or that encourages child sexual abuse by casting young-looking performers portraying children.
Suggested changes to legislation seek to:
- Ban pornography where adults are mimicking children, sometimes filmed in settings like children’s bedrooms.
- Extend the offence of creating an exploitative portrayal of a child to cover material where an older performer acts the part of a child.
- Introduce stricter regulation on incest-themed pornography, which studies indicates is heavily recommended by site systems.
- Add additional restrictions on “nudification” technology, potentially making it an illegal act to own tools designed to generate non-consensual nude images.
- Establish a new, separate oversight agency to conduct inspections on adult platforms and act on reports of unlawful content.
The advocates argue that these steps would ensure the safeguards that have been enforced for years in the physical world finally apply to the online sphere.
