UK Pornography Site Visits Declines Following Identity Verifications, Yet VPN Use Spikes, Reports Watchdog
Visitor numbers to pornography platforms in the UK has fallen significantly since the roll-out of mandatory age verification this summer, as reported by the nation's communications regulator. Concurrently, the usage of tools designed to dodge these barriers has risen.
Sharp Fall in User Figures After Rule Implementation
The introduction of age vetting on 25 July resulted in an swift fall in traffic to major pornography sites, such as the leading site in the UK. Data indicates that user traffic to this platform in August were 9.8 million, a decrease of 1.5 million compared to the equivalent month in 2024.
Overall, traffic to the 10 top adult services in the UK have now stabilized at a markedly decreased volume than before the end-of-July implementation date. Subsequent analysis shows this downward trend in viewing continued beyond August.
Sharp Increase in VPN Usage to Evade Checks
In response to the new rules, use of VPN software—which can get around geographic restrictions by routing connections via another nation—surged following 25 July.
Usage reached a high at more than 1.4 million in the middle of August, up from approximately 650,000 users before the checks began. Subsequently, the regulator noted that VPN usage has afterwards fallen back, with latest figures standing at approximately 900,000. It added that the level of daily VPN use is “much lower” than user numbers for adult services.
Teenagers Responding to Damaging Material
Elsewhere, the watchdog's report revealed that about 60% of teenagers aged 11 to 17 had taken action after seeing distressing content online. Steps taken ranged from flagging the content to the site to blocking the user who shared it.
This survey was carried out before new regulations came into force that require social media companies to stop children from seeing harmful content, including material related to suicide and adult material. The most common way teenagers encountered such content was by looking through a social media feed, suggesting that recommendation systems were serving harmful material.
Government Announce Review of Adult Content Laws
Separately, the government announced it would review the legislation governing pornography to consider whether it is adequate in the modern online world.
“The examination will investigate the efficacy of the existing law in relation to making illegal, among other things, harmful portrayals of incest and any types of pornography which promote child sexual abuse,” stated a justice minister.
Advocates Call For Stricter Online Controls
Campaigners for better regulation of online pornography have urged the government to outlaw so-called “barely legal” material. This includes content featuring incest scenes or that appears to promote abuse by using young-looking performers dressed as children.
Suggested changes to government bills seek to:
- Prohibit pornography where performers are mimicking children, sometimes recorded in environments like children’s bedrooms.
- Broaden 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 controls on familial abuse pornography, which studies suggests is heavily recommended by site systems.
- Introduce additional controls on “nudification” software, potentially making it an illegal act to possess software designed to generate private images without permission.
- Create a new, separate regulatory body to perform spot checks on adult platforms and act on complaints of unlawful content.
The campaigners contend that these steps would ensure the safeguards that have existed for years offline finally apply to the digital age.
