British Pornography Traffic Falls After Age Checks, Yet VPN Use Surges, Reports Watchdog
Traffic to adult content sites in the UK has decreased markedly after the roll-out of age-checking measures this summer, as reported by the nation's communications authority. Concurrently, the use of specialist software designed to bypass these barriers has risen.
Sharp Drop in User Numbers Following Rule Enforcement
The introduction of age vetting on 25 July led to an swift reduction in traffic to popular online adult platforms, including the leading site in the UK. Figures indicates that user traffic to this site in August were 9.8 million, a decline of 1.5 million compared to the same period in 2024.
In total, visitor numbers to the 10 most-visited pornography sites in the UK have now stabilized at a markedly decreased volume than prior to the end-of-July deadline. Later data shows this decline in site visits continued past August.
Sharp Increase in Virtual Private Network Usage to Bypass Restrictions
Reacting to the new regulations, adoption of VPN software—which can circumvent location-based restrictions by masking connections through another nation—more than doubled following 25 July.
User numbers peaked at more than 1.4 million in mid-August, up from approximately 650,000 people before the verification began. Subsequently, the regulator stated that VPN usage has afterwards steadily declined, with latest numbers standing at approximately 900,000. It clarified that the level of daily VPN use remains “much lower” than traffic for adult services.
Teenagers Taking Action to Damaging Online Content
In other findings, the regulator's report found that about 60% of teenagers aged 11 to 17 had taken action after encountering distressing content on the internet. Actions ranged from reporting the material to the site to muting the person who shared it.
This survey was carried out prior to new regulations took effect that compel platforms to prevent children from accessing dangerous content, including material related to suicide and adult material. The primary way young people came across such content was by scrolling through a social media feed, suggesting that algorithms were serving inappropriate material.
Government Launch Examination of Pornography Laws
Separately, the government announced it would examine the criminal law governing pornography to assess whether it is adequate in the modern online world.
“The examination will investigate the efficacy of the existing law in regarding making illegal, for example, damaging portrayals of familial abuse and any forms of pornography which encourage the abuse of children,” said a government official.
Advocates Call For Tighter Online Regulations
Campaigners for tighter control of online pornography have called on the government to ban so-called “barely legal” material. This encompasses content featuring incest scenes or that encourages child sexual abuse by using youthful performers portraying children.
Suggested amendments to legislation aim to:
- Ban pornography where adults are impersonating children, often recorded in settings like children’s bedrooms.
- Broaden the crime of making an exploitative portrayal of a child to cover material where an adult plays the role of a child.
- Apply stricter regulation on familial abuse pornography, which studies suggests is often promoted by platform algorithms.
- Add additional restrictions on “nudification” technology, potentially making it an offence to own software designed to generate non-consensual nude images.
- Create a new, independent oversight agency to conduct inspections on adult platforms and respond to reports of unlawful content.
The campaigners argue that these steps would ensure the safeguards that have existed for decades in the physical world finally apply to the digital age.
