British Pornography Traffic Falls After Identity Verifications, But Virtual Private Network Usage Surges, Reports Watchdog
Access to pornography websites in the United Kingdom has seen a notable drop after the enforcement of mandatory age verification this summer, according to the nation's communications watchdog. Concurrently, the usage of specialist software designed to circumvent these barriers has surged.
Immediate Drop in Visitor Figures After Rule Implementation
The enforcement of age verification on 25 July resulted in an prompt reduction in traffic to leading online adult platforms, including the most visited provider in the UK. Figures indicates that user traffic to this site in August were 9.8 million, a drop of 1.5 million from the same period in 2024.
In total, visitor numbers to the 10 top pornography sites in the UK have now stabilized at a significantly reduced level than prior to the late July deadline. Later analysis shows this slump in viewing continued beyond August.
Surge in Virtual Private Network Adoption to Bypass Checks
In response to the new regulations, use of Virtual Private Networks (VPNs)—which can bypass geographic restrictions by masking internet traffic via another country—increased dramatically following 25 July.
Usage peaked at more than 1.4 million in the middle of August, up from around 650,000 users before the checks began. Subsequently, the watchdog stated that VPN usage has since steadily declined, with current numbers standing at around 900,000. It clarified that the volume of daily VPN use is “much lower” than traffic for adult sites.
Young People Responding to Damaging Online Content
Elsewhere, the regulator's report revealed that about 60% of teenagers aged 11 to 17 had taken action after seeing harmful content online. Steps taken ranged from reporting the content to the platform to muting the user who shared it.
This survey was carried out before new regulations took effect that compel platforms to prevent children from seeing dangerous content, such as 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 Legislation
Separately, the government stated it would review the legislation governing pornography to assess whether it is adequate in the modern digital age.
“The review will investigate the efficacy of the current law in relation to making illegal, for example, damaging portrayals of familial abuse and any types of pornography which encourage the abuse of children,” said a government official.
Advocates Push For Stricter Digital Controls
Campaigners for tighter control of adult content have urged the authorities to ban so-called “barely legal” material. This encompasses content featuring incest scenes or that encourages child sexual abuse by casting youthful adults portraying children.
Suggested changes to legislation seek to:
- Prohibit pornography where adults are mimicking children, often filmed in settings like children’s bedrooms.
- Broaden the crime of making an exploitative portrayal of a child to cover material where an older performer acts the part of a child.
- Introduce stricter controls on incest-themed pornography, which research suggests is heavily recommended by site algorithms.
- Add further controls on “nudification” technology, potentially making it an offence to own software designed to create private images without permission.
- Create a new, separate regulatory body to conduct spot checks on pornography sites and respond to complaints of unlawful content.
The campaigners contend that these measures would ensure the protections that have existed for decades offline finally are extended to the digital age.
