British Pornography Traffic Declines Following Age Verifications, But Virtual Private Network Usage Spikes, States Regulator
Visitor numbers to adult content websites in the United Kingdom has decreased markedly after the enforcement of age-checking measures this summer, according to the country's communications watchdog. At the same time, the usage of specialist software designed to bypass these barriers has risen.
Sharp Drop in Visitor Numbers Following Law Implementation
The introduction of age vetting on 25 July resulted in an swift fall in visits to leading pornography sites, including the most visited provider in the UK. Data shows that visitor numbers to this site 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 top adult services in the UK have now settled at a markedly decreased volume than before the end-of-July deadline. Later data shows this downward trend in site visits continued past August.
Surge in Virtual Private Network Adoption to Bypass Restrictions
Reacting to the new rules, use of VPN software—which can bypass geographic blocks by routing internet traffic through another country—more than doubled following 25 July.
User numbers reached a high at more than 1.4 million in mid-August, up from around 650,000 people prior to the checks were introduced. However, the watchdog noted that VPN usage has afterwards decreased, with latest figures standing at approximately 900,000. It added that the level of regular VPN use is “much lower” than user numbers for pornography services.
Young People Taking Action to Harmful Online Content
In other findings, the regulator's annual study revealed that about 60% of young people aged 11 to 17 had acted after seeing harmful content on the internet. Actions included reporting the content to the site to muting the user who posted it.
This research was conducted before new regulations came into force that require social media companies to prevent children from seeing dangerous content, including material related to self-harm and pornography. The primary way teenagers came across such content was by scrolling through a platform feed, indicating that recommendation systems were serving inappropriate material.
Ministers Announce Review of Pornography Laws
Separately, the government announced it would examine the criminal law relating to pornography to consider whether it is adequate in the modern digital age.
“The review will investigate the efficacy of the existing law in relation to making illegal, among other things, harmful depictions of familial abuse and any types of pornography which promote the abuse of children,” stated a justice minister.
Advocates Push For Tighter Digital Regulations
Campaigners for better control of online pornography have called on the authorities to outlaw so-called “barely legal” material. This includes content featuring incest scenes or that appears to promote child sexual abuse by casting young-looking performers dressed as children.
Suggested amendments to legislation aim to:
- Ban pornography where performers are mimicking children, often filmed in settings like children’s bedrooms.
- Extend the crime of creating an indecent image of a child to cover material where an older performer acts the part of a child.
- Introduce tighter regulation on familial abuse pornography, which research suggests is heavily recommended by site algorithms.
- Add further restrictions on “nudification” software, potentially making it an illegal act to possess software designed to create private images without permission.
- Create a new, separate regulatory body to perform inspections on pornography sites and act on complaints of illegal content.
The campaigners argue that these steps would ensure the protections that have been enforced for decades in the physical world finally apply to the digital age.
