British Pornography Site Visits Falls After Identity Verifications, But Virtual Private Network Use Spikes, Reports Watchdog
Visitor numbers to adult content websites in the UK has seen a notable drop since the introduction of age-checking measures this summer, as reported by the nation's communications authority. Concurrently, the adoption of tools designed to bypass these blocks has increased.
Sharp Drop in Visitor Numbers After Law Enforcement
The introduction of age verification on 25 July resulted in an immediate fall in visits to major pornography sites, including the top provider in the UK. Data shows that user traffic to this site in August were 9.8 million, a drop of 1.5 million from the same period in 2024.
Overall, visitor numbers to the 10 most-visited pornography sites in the UK have now settled at a significantly reduced level than prior to the late July implementation date. Later analysis indicates this downward trend in viewing continued beyond August.
Sharp Increase in Virtual Private Network Usage to Evade Restrictions
Reacting to the new rules, adoption of Virtual Private Networks (VPNs)—which can bypass geographic blocks by routing connections via another country—increased dramatically after 25 July.
Usage peaked at more than 1.4 million in the middle of August, up from approximately 650,000 people before the checks were introduced. Subsequently, the regulator noted that VPN usage has afterwards steadily declined, with current numbers at approximately 900,000. It clarified that the level of regular VPN use remains “much lower” than traffic for adult sites.
Teenagers Responding to Damaging Material
Elsewhere, the watchdog's report revealed that about 60% of young people aged 11 to 17 had taken action after seeing harmful content on the internet. Actions included flagging the content to the platform to blocking the person who posted it.
This research was carried out before new regulations came into force that compel platforms to stop children from accessing dangerous content, such as material related to suicide and adult material. The most common way young people came across such content was by looking through a social media timeline, suggesting that recommendation systems were showing inappropriate material.
Government Announce Review of Adult Content Legislation
In a related development, the ministers stated it would review the legislation relating to pornography to assess whether it is “fit for purpose” in the modern online world.
“The review will investigate the efficacy of the current law in regarding making illegal, for example, harmful portrayals of familial abuse and any types of pornography which encourage the abuse of children,” said a government official.
Advocates Push For Stricter Online Controls
Advocates for better regulation of adult content have urged the government to outlaw so-called “barely legal” material. This encompasses content featuring incest scenes or that appears to promote abuse by casting youthful adults portraying children.
Proposed changes to government bills seek to:
- Prohibit pornography where adults are impersonating children, often recorded in settings like children’s bedrooms.
- Broaden the offence of creating an indecent image of a child to cover material where an older performer plays the role of a child.
- Introduce stricter regulation on familial abuse pornography, which studies indicates is heavily recommended by platform systems.
- Add further restrictions on “nudification” technology, potentially making it an illegal act to possess tools designed to generate non-consensual nude images.
- Create a new, separate oversight agency to perform spot checks on adult platforms and respond to complaints of illegal content.
The campaigners argue that these measures would ensure the protections that have existed for decades in the physical world finally apply to the online sphere.
