UK Pornography Traffic Falls Following Age Verifications, Yet VPN Use Surges, Reports Watchdog
Traffic to pornography sites in the United Kingdom has seen a notable drop after the enforcement of mandatory age verification earlier this year, according to the nation's communications regulator. Concurrently, the usage of tools designed to circumvent these blocks has increased.
Sharp Fall in Visitor Figures Following Law Implementation
The introduction of age verification on 25 July resulted in an swift fall in traffic to leading pornography sites, including the top site in the UK. Data reveals that user traffic to this platform in August reached 9.8 million, a decline of 1.5 million compared to the equivalent month in 2024.
In total, traffic to the ten most-visited adult services in the UK have now settled at a markedly decreased volume than prior to the end-of-July deadline. Subsequent data suggests this decline in site visits persisted beyond August.
Sharp Increase in VPN Adoption to Evade Checks
Reacting to the new rules, adoption of Virtual Private Networks (VPNs)—which can bypass location-based blocks by routing connections through another nation—increased dramatically following 25 July.
Usage reached a high at over 1.4 million in the middle of August, up from around 650,000 users before the checks began. However, the watchdog stated that VPN usage has afterwards fallen back, with current figures at around 900,000. It added that the level of daily VPN use remains “much lower” than traffic for pornography services.
Young People Taking Action to Damaging Online Content
Elsewhere, the regulator's report found that about 60% of teenagers aged 11 to 17 had taken action after encountering damaging content online. Steps taken ranged from flagging the material to the site to muting the user who shared it.
This survey was conducted prior to new regulations came into force that compel social media companies to prevent children from accessing harmful content, such as material related to suicide and adult material. The primary way young people came across such content was by looking through a platform timeline, indicating that algorithms were serving harmful material.
Ministers Launch Examination of Adult Content Legislation
In a related development, the ministers announced it would review the criminal law relating to pornography to consider whether it is effective in the ever-developing online world.
“The review will look into the efficacy of the existing law in regarding criminalising, among other things, damaging depictions of familial abuse and any forms of pornography which promote the abuse of children,” said a justice minister.
Campaigners Call For Tighter Digital Regulations
Campaigners for better control of adult content have urged the authorities to ban so-called “barely legal” material. This encompasses content featuring incest scenes or that encourages child sexual abuse by using young-looking adults portraying children.
Suggested amendments to legislation seek to:
- Ban pornography where performers are impersonating children, often recorded in settings like children’s bedrooms.
- Broaden the crime of making an indecent image of a child to cover material where an older performer plays the role of a child.
- Introduce tighter regulation on incest-themed pornography, which research suggests is heavily recommended by site systems.
- Add additional restrictions on “nudification” technology, potentially making it an offence to own tools designed to generate non-consensual nude images.
- Establish a new, separate oversight agency to perform inspections on adult platforms and act on reports of illegal content.
The campaigners contend that these measures would ensure the protections that have been enforced for decades offline finally are extended to the digital age.
