British Pornography Traffic Falls After Identity Verifications, Yet Virtual Private Network Use Spikes, Reports Regulator
Traffic to adult content websites in the UK has seen a notable drop after the roll-out of age-checking measures earlier this year, according to the nation's communications watchdog. Simultaneously, the use of specialist software designed to bypass these blocks has increased.
Immediate Fall in User Numbers After Law Implementation
The enforcement of age verification on 25 July led to an swift fall in visits to leading online adult platforms, including the leading site in the UK. Figures indicates that visitor numbers to this platform in August stood at 9.8 million, a decline of 1.5 million compared to the same period in 2024.
In total, visitor numbers to the ten most-visited adult services in the UK have now settled at a “lower level” than before the late July implementation date. Subsequent data suggests this slump in site visits continued past August.
Sharp Increase in Virtual Private Network Adoption to Evade Restrictions
Reacting to the new rules, use of VPN software—which can circumvent location-based blocks by routing internet traffic through another nation—more than doubled following 25 July.
Usage peaked at more than 1.4 million in mid-August, rising from approximately 650,000 people prior to the verification began. Subsequently, the regulator stated that VPN usage has afterwards steadily declined, with latest numbers at around 900,000. It added that the volume of daily VPN use is “much lower” than user numbers for adult services.
Teenagers Taking Action to Damaging Online Content
Elsewhere, the watchdog's report found that about 60% of young people aged 11 to 17 had taken action after encountering distressing content online. Actions included flagging the content to the site to blocking the user who shared it.
This survey was carried out prior to new rules came into force that require platforms to prevent children from seeing harmful content, such as material related to suicide and pornography. The most common way young people came across such content was by scrolling through a social media feed, suggesting that recommendation systems were serving inappropriate material.
Ministers Announce Examination of Adult Content Laws
In a related development, the government announced it would review the legislation relating to pornography to consider whether it is adequate in the ever-developing online world.
“The review will look into the effectiveness of the current law in relation to criminalising, for example, harmful portrayals of familial abuse and any forms of pornography which promote the abuse of children,” stated a justice minister.
Campaigners Push For Stricter Online Regulations
Advocates for tighter control of adult content have urged the government to outlaw so-called “barely legal” material. This encompasses content featuring simulated familial abuse or that appears to promote child sexual abuse by using young-looking adults portraying children.
Proposed amendments to government bills aim to:
- Ban pornography where adults are mimicking children, sometimes filmed in environments like children’s bedrooms.
- Extend the offence of making an indecent image of a child to cover material where an older performer plays the role of a child.
- Introduce tighter regulation on familial abuse pornography, which studies suggests is often promoted by site algorithms.
- Add additional restrictions on “nudification” software, potentially making it an offence to possess software designed to generate private images without permission.
- Establish a new, separate oversight agency to conduct inspections on pornography sites and respond to complaints of illegal content.
The campaigners contend that these steps would ensure the protections that have been enforced for years in the physical world finally apply to the online sphere.
