British Pornography Site Visits Falls Following Age Checks, But VPN Use Spikes, States Watchdog
Access to adult content websites in the United Kingdom has decreased markedly after the enforcement of mandatory age verification this summer, as reported by the nation's communications authority. Concurrently, the usage of specialist software designed to circumvent these restrictions has risen.
Sharp Fall in Visitor Numbers After Rule Implementation
The introduction of age vetting on 25 July resulted in an swift reduction in traffic to popular pornography sites, such as the top site in the UK. Figures shows that user traffic to this site in August reached 9.8 million, a decline of 1.5 million from the same period in 2024.
Overall, traffic to the 10 top pornography sites in the UK have now settled at a “lower level” than prior to the late July deadline. Later analysis shows this decline in site visits persisted past August.
Sharp Increase in VPN Usage to Evade Restrictions
Reacting to the new rules, adoption of VPN software—which can bypass location-based restrictions by masking internet traffic through another nation—surged following 25 July.
User numbers reached a high at over 1.4 million in the middle of August, rising from approximately 650,000 users prior to the checks began. However, the regulator noted that VPN usage has since steadily declined, with current numbers at around 900,000. It clarified that the volume of regular VPN use is “much lower” than user numbers for pornography services.
Teenagers Responding to Damaging Online Content
In other findings, the watchdog's report revealed that about 60% of young people aged 11 to 17 had taken action after seeing damaging content on the internet. Actions included reporting the content to the platform to blocking the user who posted it.
This survey was conducted prior to new regulations took effect that require platforms to prevent children from accessing dangerous content, including material related to self-harm and pornography. The most common way young people came across such content was by looking through a platform timeline, indicating that algorithms were showing inappropriate material.
Ministers Announce Examination of Pornography Legislation
Separately, the government stated it would review the legislation relating to pornography to assess whether it is effective in the modern digital age.
“The examination will investigate the effectiveness of the current law in regarding making illegal, for example, harmful portrayals of incest 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 urged the authorities to outlaw so-called “barely legal” material. This includes content featuring incest scenes or that appears to promote child sexual abuse by using young-looking adults dressed as children.
Suggested changes to legislation aim to:
- Prohibit pornography where adults are mimicking children, often recorded in environments like children’s bedrooms.
- Broaden the crime of creating an indecent image of a child to cover material where an adult plays the role of a child.
- Introduce tighter regulation on familial abuse pornography, which research indicates is heavily recommended by site systems.
- Add additional controls on “nudification” software, potentially making it an offence to own software designed to generate non-consensual nude images.
- Create a new, independent oversight agency to perform inspections on pornography sites and act on reports of illegal content.
The campaigners contend that these measures would ensure the protections that have been enforced for years offline finally apply to the digital age.
