British Pornography Traffic Declines Following Age Checks, But Virtual Private Network Usage Surges, Reports Watchdog
Visitor numbers to adult content sites in the UK has fallen significantly after the introduction of age-checking measures earlier this year, according to the country's communications regulator. At the same time, the adoption of tools designed to circumvent these restrictions has increased.
Sharp Drop in Visitor Numbers After Law Enforcement
The enforcement of age vetting on 25 July resulted in an prompt decline in visits to popular online adult platforms, including the top site in the UK. Figures reveals that visitor numbers to this site in August stood at 9.8 million, a decrease of 1.5 million compared to the same period in 2024.
Overall, traffic to the ten top adult services in the UK have now stabilized at a “lower level” than before the late July deadline. Subsequent analysis indicates this slump in site visits persisted past August.
Surge in VPN Usage to Evade Checks
Reacting to the new regulations, use of Virtual Private Networks (VPNs)—which can circumvent geographic restrictions by masking connections through another nation—more than doubled following 25 July.
User numbers reached a high at more than 1.4 million in the middle of August, up from around 650,000 people before the checks began. However, the regulator stated that VPN usage has since steadily declined, with latest numbers standing at approximately 900,000. It clarified that the level of regular VPN use is “much lower” than user numbers for adult services.
Young People Responding to Harmful Online Content
In other findings, the watchdog's report found that about 60% of teenagers aged 11 to 17 had acted after seeing damaging content online. Steps taken ranged from reporting the content to the platform to muting the user who posted it.
This survey was carried out before new rules took effect that compel social media companies to prevent children from seeing dangerous content, including material related to suicide 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 Examination of Pornography Laws
In a related development, the government stated it would examine the legislation relating to pornography to assess whether it is “fit for purpose” in the ever-developing digital age.
“The review will look into the efficacy of the existing law in regarding criminalising, for example, harmful portrayals of familial abuse and any types of pornography which encourage the abuse of children,” stated a government official.
Campaigners Push For Stricter Online Controls
Campaigners for tighter control of online pornography have urged the authorities to ban so-called “barely legal” material. This includes content featuring simulated familial abuse or that appears to promote child sexual abuse by using youthful adults dressed as children.
Proposed amendments to government bills aim to:
- Prohibit pornography where adults are mimicking children, often filmed in environments like children’s bedrooms.
- Broaden the offence of creating an exploitative portrayal of a child to cover material where an adult plays the role of a child.
- Introduce stricter controls on familial abuse pornography, which research indicates is heavily recommended by platform algorithms.
- Add further controls on “nudification” software, potentially making it an offence to own tools designed to generate non-consensual nude images.
- Create a new, independent regulatory body to conduct spot checks on pornography sites and act on complaints of unlawful content.
The campaigners argue that these steps would ensure the safeguards that have existed for decades offline finally apply to the digital age.