British Pornography Traffic Declines After Identity Checks, But Virtual Private Network Usage Surges, Reports Regulator
Traffic to adult content platforms in the UK has decreased markedly since the roll-out of mandatory age verification this summer, as reported by the nation's communications authority. At the same time, the usage of tools designed to dodge these blocks has risen.
Immediate Drop in Visitor Numbers After Law Implementation
The enforcement of age verification on 25 July led to an swift decline in visits to major pornography sites, such as the leading site in the UK. Data reveals that visitor numbers to this platform in August were 9.8 million, a drop of 1.5 million compared to the equivalent month in 2024.
Overall, traffic to the 10 most-visited pornography sites in the UK have now settled at a “lower level” than before the late July implementation date. Subsequent data indicates this downward trend in viewing continued past August.
Sharp Increase in VPN Usage to Bypass Restrictions
Reacting to the new regulations, adoption of Virtual Private Networks (VPNs)—which can get around location-based restrictions by routing connections via another nation—surged after 25 July.
Usage reached a high at more than 1.4 million in mid-August, up from approximately 650,000 people before the checks began. Subsequently, the regulator noted that VPN usage has afterwards decreased, with current numbers standing at approximately 900,000. It clarified that the level of daily VPN use remains “much lower” than traffic for adult sites.
Teenagers Responding to Damaging Online Content
In other findings, the regulator's report found that about 60% of young people aged 11 to 17 had acted after encountering distressing content online. Actions included flagging the material to the platform to muting the person who posted it.
This survey was conducted prior to new rules took effect that compel social media companies to stop children from seeing harmful content, including material related to suicide and adult material. The most common way young people encountered such content was by scrolling through a social media timeline, indicating that recommendation systems were serving inappropriate material.
Government Announce Examination of Adult Content Laws
In a related development, the government announced it would examine the criminal law governing pornography to assess whether it is adequate in the ever-developing online world.
“The review will investigate the efficacy of the current law in relation to making illegal, for example, damaging depictions of incest and any types of pornography which promote child sexual abuse,” said a justice minister.
Advocates Push For Stricter Online Regulations
Campaigners for better regulation of online pornography have urged the government to ban so-called “barely legal” material. This encompasses content featuring simulated familial abuse or that appears to promote child sexual abuse by using youthful adults dressed as children.
Proposed amendments to government bills seek to:
- Ban pornography where adults are mimicking children, often filmed in environments like children’s bedrooms.
- Broaden the crime of making an indecent image of a child to cover material where an adult acts the part of a child.
- Apply stricter regulation on incest-themed pornography, which research indicates is often promoted by platform systems.
- Introduce further restrictions on “nudification” software, potentially making it an offence to own software designed to generate private images without permission.
- Establish a new, independent oversight agency to conduct spot checks on adult platforms and act on complaints of unlawful content.
The advocates contend that these steps would ensure the protections that have existed for years in the physical world finally are extended to the online sphere.
