British Pornography Site Visits Falls After Age Checks, Yet Virtual Private Network Usage Spikes, Reports Watchdog
Traffic to adult content websites in the UK has decreased markedly after the roll-out of mandatory age verification earlier this year, as reported by the country's communications authority. Concurrently, the use of specialist software designed to circumvent these blocks has risen.
Sharp Drop in User Figures Following Rule Implementation
The introduction of age vetting on 25 July caused an immediate fall in traffic to leading pornography sites, such as the top site in the UK. Figures indicates that user traffic to this platform in August were 9.8 million, a drop of 1.5 million from the equivalent month in 2024.
In total, traffic to the 10 top adult services in the UK have now settled at a “lower level” than before the end-of-July implementation date. Subsequent data shows this downward trend in site visits persisted beyond August.
Sharp Increase in Virtual Private Network Usage to Evade Checks
Reacting to the new rules, use of VPN software—which can circumvent geographic restrictions by routing connections via another country—surged after 25 July.
User numbers peaked at more than 1.4 million in mid-August, rising from around 650,000 people before the checks began. Subsequently, the watchdog noted that VPN usage has since steadily declined, with current numbers at around 900,000. It clarified that the level of daily VPN use is “much lower” than traffic for adult services.
Teenagers Taking Action to Damaging Material
In other findings, the regulator's annual study found that about 60% of teenagers aged 11 to 17 had taken action after seeing distressing content on the internet. Actions included reporting the content to the site to blocking the person who shared it.
This survey was carried out before new rules came into force that require platforms to stop children from seeing dangerous content, such as material related to suicide and adult material. The most common way teenagers came across such content was by scrolling through a social media feed, suggesting that recommendation systems were serving harmful material.
Ministers Launch Review of Adult Content Legislation
Separately, the government announced it would examine the criminal law relating to pornography to assess whether it is effective in the modern online world.
“The review will investigate the efficacy of the current law in regarding criminalising, for example, harmful depictions of incest and any types of pornography which encourage child sexual abuse,” stated a justice minister.
Advocates Call For Tighter Online Controls
Campaigners for better control of online pornography have called on the government to outlaw so-called “barely legal” material. This encompasses content featuring simulated familial abuse or that encourages abuse by using young-looking performers portraying children.
Suggested amendments to legislation aim to:
- Prohibit pornography where adults are mimicking children, sometimes filmed in environments like children’s bedrooms.
- Broaden the offence of making an exploitative portrayal of a child to cover material where an adult acts the part of a child.
- Apply stricter controls on familial abuse pornography, which research suggests is often promoted by site algorithms.
- Add additional controls on “nudification” technology, potentially making it an offence to own software designed to create non-consensual nude images.
- Establish a new, separate regulatory body 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 existed for decades in the physical world finally apply to the digital age.
