UK Pornography Site Visits Falls Following Age Verifications, Yet Virtual Private Network Usage Surges, Reports Regulator
Visitor numbers to pornography websites in the United Kingdom has seen a notable drop since the enforcement of mandatory age verification earlier this year, as reported by the country's communications regulator. At the same time, the usage of specialist software designed to circumvent these blocks has risen.
Immediate Drop in User Numbers Following Law Implementation
The enforcement of age verification on 25 July led to an swift reduction in visits to leading online adult platforms, including the top site in the UK. Figures shows that visitor numbers to this site in August reached 9.8 million, a decline of 1.5 million from the same period in 2024.
In total, traffic to the 10 most-visited pornography sites in the UK have now stabilized at a “lower level” than before the late July deadline. Later data suggests this downward trend in viewing continued past August.
Sharp Increase in VPN Adoption to Evade Restrictions
In response to the new regulations, adoption of Virtual Private Networks (VPNs)—which can get around location-based blocks by masking internet traffic through another nation—more than doubled following 25 July.
Usage peaked at more than 1.4 million in the middle of August, rising from around 650,000 users before the verification were introduced. However, the regulator noted that VPN usage has afterwards fallen back, with latest numbers standing at approximately 900,000. It added that the level of regular VPN use is “much lower” than user numbers for adult services.
Teenagers Taking Action to Damaging Material
In other findings, the watchdog's annual study found that about 60% of teenagers aged 11 to 17 had taken action after seeing distressing content on the internet. Steps taken ranged from flagging the content to the site to blocking the person who shared it.
This survey was carried out prior to new regulations came into force that require platforms to prevent children from seeing dangerous content, such as material related to suicide and adult material. The most common way young people came across such content was by scrolling through a platform feed, suggesting that recommendation systems were showing harmful material.
Government Announce Review of Pornography Laws
In a related development, the government announced it would examine the criminal law governing pornography to consider whether it is adequate in the modern online world.
“The review will look into the efficacy of the current law in regarding criminalising, among other things, harmful portrayals of familial abuse and any types of pornography which promote child sexual abuse,” stated a government official.
Campaigners Push For Tighter Digital Controls
Campaigners for better control of adult content have urged the authorities to outlaw so-called “barely legal” material. This includes content featuring simulated familial abuse or that encourages child sexual abuse by casting young-looking adults dressed as children.
Suggested changes to government bills seek to:
- Prohibit pornography where adults are impersonating children, sometimes recorded in settings like children’s bedrooms.
- Extend the crime of creating an exploitative portrayal of a child to cover material where an adult acts the part of a child.
- Introduce tighter regulation on incest-themed pornography, which research suggests is heavily recommended by platform systems.
- Introduce additional controls on “nudification” technology, potentially making it an illegal act to possess tools designed to generate non-consensual nude images.
- Create a new, separate regulatory body to conduct spot checks on pornography sites and act on complaints of illegal content.
The campaigners contend that these steps would ensure the safeguards that have existed for decades in the physical world finally apply to the online sphere.
