UK Pornography Traffic Declines After Identity Verifications, Yet Virtual Private Network Use Surges, Reports Watchdog
Traffic to pornography platforms in the United Kingdom has seen a notable drop after the enforcement of age-checking measures earlier this year, according to the nation's communications authority. Simultaneously, the usage of specialist software designed to dodge these barriers has risen.
Immediate Drop in Visitor Numbers Following Law Enforcement
The enforcement of age vetting on 25 July caused an swift reduction in visits to leading online adult platforms, such as the most visited site in the UK. Figures reveals that visitor numbers to this site in August stood at 9.8 million, a drop of 1.5 million from the equivalent month in 2024.
Overall, visitor numbers to the ten top pornography sites in the UK have now stabilized at a “lower level” than before the end-of-July deadline. Later analysis shows this decline in viewing continued past August.
Surge in VPN Usage to Evade Checks
Reacting to the new rules, adoption of VPN software—which can get around geographic blocks by masking connections via another nation—more than doubled following 25 July.
User numbers reached a high at over 1.4 million in the middle of August, rising from around 650,000 users prior to the checks were introduced. However, the regulator stated that VPN usage has afterwards steadily declined, with current numbers at approximately 900,000. It clarified that the volume of regular VPN use remains “much lower” than user numbers for pornography services.
Young People Responding to Harmful Material
In other findings, the watchdog's annual study revealed that about 60% of young people aged 11 to 17 had acted after seeing damaging content on the internet. Actions ranged from reporting the content to the platform to blocking the user who posted it.
This research was carried out prior to new rules came into force that compel platforms to prevent children from seeing dangerous content, including material related to self-harm and pornography. The primary way young people came across such content was by scrolling through a social media timeline, indicating that algorithms were serving inappropriate material.
Government Announce Review of Pornography Laws
Separately, the government stated it would review the legislation governing pornography to consider whether it is “fit for purpose” in the ever-developing digital age.
“The review will look into the efficacy of the current law in relation to criminalising, for example, harmful portrayals of familial abuse and any forms of pornography which encourage the abuse of children,” said a justice minister.
Campaigners Call For Tighter Digital Controls
Advocates for better regulation of adult content have called on the authorities to ban so-called “barely legal” material. This encompasses content featuring incest scenes or that encourages abuse by casting young-looking adults portraying children.
Proposed amendments to legislation aim to:
- Ban pornography where adults are mimicking children, sometimes filmed in environments like children’s bedrooms.
- Broaden the crime of creating an exploitative portrayal of a child to include material where an adult plays the role of a child.
- Apply tighter regulation on incest-themed pornography, which research suggests is heavily recommended by site systems.
- Add additional restrictions on “nudification” software, potentially making it an illegal act to own software designed to create non-consensual nude images.
- Create a new, independent regulatory body to perform inspections on pornography sites and act on complaints of unlawful content.
The advocates argue that these steps would ensure the protections that have been enforced for decades offline finally are extended to the online sphere.