British Pornography Site Visits Falls After Age Verifications, Yet Virtual Private Network Usage Surges, States Regulator
Traffic to pornography platforms in the United Kingdom has decreased markedly since the introduction of age-checking measures this summer, as reported by the country's communications regulator. Concurrently, the adoption of tools designed to circumvent these restrictions has increased.
Immediate Drop in Visitor Figures Following Rule Enforcement
The enforcement of age verification on 25 July resulted in an immediate reduction in traffic to major online adult platforms, including the most visited provider in the UK. Figures shows that visitor numbers to this platform in August reached 9.8 million, a drop of 1.5 million from the equivalent month in 2024.
Overall, visitor numbers to the ten top adult services in the UK have now stabilized at a markedly decreased volume than prior to the end-of-July implementation date. Subsequent data shows this decline in viewing persisted past August.
Surge in Virtual Private Network Usage to Bypass Checks
Reacting to the new regulations, adoption of Virtual Private Networks (VPNs)—which can get around geographic restrictions by masking connections through another country—more than doubled following 25 July.
User numbers reached a high at over 1.4 million in mid-August, rising from around 650,000 people prior to the verification began. Subsequently, the regulator noted that VPN usage has afterwards decreased, with latest numbers at around 900,000. It added that the volume of regular VPN use is “much lower” than user numbers for adult sites.
Young People Responding to Damaging Material
In other findings, the watchdog's report found that about 60% of young people aged 11 to 17 had taken action after encountering distressing content online. Steps taken included reporting the material to the platform to blocking the user who posted it.
This research was conducted prior to new rules took effect that require social media companies to prevent children from seeing harmful content, such as material related to suicide and pornography. The primary way teenagers encountered such content was by scrolling through a social media feed, indicating that algorithms were serving inappropriate material.
Government Launch Examination of Adult Content Legislation
In a related development, the government stated it would examine the legislation governing pornography to consider whether it is “fit for purpose” in the ever-developing digital age.
“The review will look into the effectiveness of the current law in regarding criminalising, among other things, harmful portrayals of familial abuse and any forms of pornography which encourage child sexual abuse,” stated a government official.
Advocates Push For Stricter Online Controls
Advocates for tighter control of adult content have urged the authorities to outlaw so-called “barely legal” material. This includes content featuring incest scenes or that encourages abuse by casting youthful adults portraying children.
Proposed changes to legislation seek to:
- Ban pornography where adults are mimicking children, sometimes recorded in settings like children’s bedrooms.
- Broaden the offence of creating an exploitative portrayal of a child to cover material where an adult acts the part of a child.
- Apply tighter regulation on familial abuse pornography, which studies indicates is often promoted by site systems.
- Add additional controls on “nudification” software, potentially making it an offence to own tools designed to create private images without permission.
- Create a new, independent oversight agency to conduct inspections on pornography sites and respond to reports of unlawful content.
The advocates contend that these measures would ensure the protections that have been enforced for decades in the physical world finally are extended to the online sphere.
