British Pornography Site Visits Falls After Identity Checks, Yet Virtual Private Network Usage Surges, States Regulator
Traffic to pornography platforms in the United Kingdom has seen a notable drop after the roll-out of mandatory age verification this summer, as reported by the country's communications watchdog. At the same time, the adoption of specialist software designed to bypass these restrictions has increased.
Immediate Drop in Visitor Numbers Following Rule Implementation
The introduction of age verification on 25 July led to an swift reduction in traffic to major pornography sites, such as the leading provider in the UK. Figures reveals that user traffic to this platform in August stood at 9.8 million, a decline of 1.5 million compared to the same period in 2024.
Overall, traffic to the ten most-visited adult services in the UK have now stabilized at a significantly reduced level than prior to the end-of-July implementation date. Subsequent analysis shows this downward trend in site visits continued beyond August.
Sharp Increase in Virtual Private Network Adoption to Bypass Checks
Reacting to the new rules, adoption of VPN software—which can get around geographic restrictions by routing connections through another country—surged following 25 July.
Usage peaked at more than 1.4 million in mid-August, rising from approximately 650,000 people prior to the verification were introduced. Subsequently, the regulator stated that VPN usage has since steadily declined, with current numbers at around 900,000. It clarified that the level of regular VPN use remains “much lower” than user numbers for pornography sites.
Teenagers Taking Action to Harmful Online Content
Elsewhere, the regulator's report revealed that about 60% of teenagers aged 11 to 17 had taken action after seeing damaging content online. Steps taken ranged from flagging the content to the site to muting the person who posted it.
This survey was carried out before new regulations came into force that require platforms to prevent children from accessing harmful 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 feed, suggesting that algorithms were serving inappropriate material.
Government Launch Review of Pornography Laws
In a related development, the government announced it would review the legislation relating to pornography to assess whether it is “fit for purpose” in the modern online world.
“The review will investigate the efficacy of the current law in regarding criminalising, for example, harmful depictions of incest and any forms of pornography which promote the abuse of children,” said a justice minister.
Campaigners Call For Stricter Digital Regulations
Campaigners for better control of online pornography have urged the government to ban so-called “barely legal” material. This includes content featuring incest scenes or that encourages child sexual abuse by using youthful adults portraying children.
Proposed amendments to government bills seek to:
- Ban pornography where adults are impersonating children, sometimes filmed in environments like children’s bedrooms.
- Extend the offence of creating an exploitative portrayal of a child to cover material where an adult acts the part of a child.
- Apply stricter regulation on familial abuse pornography, which research indicates is heavily recommended by site algorithms.
- Introduce additional restrictions on “nudification” software, potentially making it an illegal act to possess tools designed to generate non-consensual nude images.
- Create a new, independent oversight agency to conduct inspections on adult platforms and act on complaints of unlawful content.
The campaigners contend that these steps would ensure the safeguards that have been enforced for decades offline finally apply to the online sphere.
