British Pornography Traffic Declines After Identity Checks, But Virtual Private Network Usage Spikes, States Regulator
Traffic to adult content sites in the UK has seen a notable drop since the enforcement of age-checking measures earlier this year, as reported by the nation's communications regulator. At the same time, the use of specialist software designed to dodge these blocks has surged.
Sharp Drop in Visitor Figures After Law Implementation
The enforcement of age verification on 25 July resulted in an immediate fall in traffic to leading online adult platforms, including the most visited site in the UK. Data shows that visitor numbers to this platform in August stood at 9.8 million, a decline of 1.5 million from the same period in 2024.
Overall, visitor numbers to the 10 top pornography sites in the UK have now stabilized at a markedly decreased volume than before the end-of-July implementation date. Subsequent data indicates this decline in viewing continued beyond August.
Sharp Increase in VPN Adoption to Bypass Checks
In response to the new rules, adoption of Virtual Private Networks (VPNs)—which can get around geographic blocks by masking internet traffic through another nation—more than doubled following 25 July.
Usage reached a high at over 1.4 million in the middle of August, rising from approximately 650,000 users prior to the verification began. However, the watchdog stated that VPN usage has afterwards decreased, with latest figures at approximately 900,000. It clarified that the volume of daily VPN use remains “much lower” than user numbers for adult sites.
Teenagers Taking Action to Damaging Material
Elsewhere, the watchdog's annual study found that about 60% of young people aged 11 to 17 had acted after encountering damaging content on the internet. Actions ranged from flagging the content to the platform to blocking the person who shared it.
This research was conducted before new rules came into force that compel platforms to prevent children from seeing dangerous content, such as material related to suicide and adult material. The most common way teenagers came across such content was by looking through a social media timeline, suggesting that recommendation systems were serving inappropriate material.
Government Launch Examination of Pornography Laws
Separately, the government stated it would examine the criminal law governing pornography to consider whether it is effective in the modern digital age.
“The review will investigate the effectiveness of the current law in relation to making illegal, among other things, harmful depictions 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 control of adult content have urged the government to outlaw so-called “barely legal” material. This encompasses content featuring incest scenes or that appears to promote abuse by using young-looking performers dressed as children.
Proposed changes to legislation aim to:
- Ban pornography where performers are mimicking children, sometimes filmed in environments like children’s bedrooms.
- Extend the crime of making an indecent image of a child to include material where an adult plays the role of a child.
- Apply tighter regulation on familial abuse pornography, which research suggests is heavily recommended by site systems.
- Add additional controls on “nudification” technology, potentially making it an illegal act to own tools designed to generate non-consensual nude images.
- Create a new, separate regulatory body to perform spot checks on adult platforms and respond to complaints of illegal content.
The campaigners argue that these measures would ensure the protections that have been enforced for years in the physical world finally are extended to the online sphere.
