British Adult Content Traffic Declines After Identity Verifications, Yet Virtual Private Network Use Surges, Reports Watchdog
Access to adult content sites in the UK has fallen significantly after the introduction of age-checking measures earlier this year, according to the nation's communications regulator. At the same time, the usage of specialist software designed to bypass these blocks has surged.
Immediate Drop in Visitor Figures Following Law Enforcement
The introduction of age verification on 25 July led to an prompt reduction in visits to leading pornography sites, including the top site in the UK. Figures shows that visitor numbers to this platform in August stood at 9.8 million, a drop of 1.5 million compared to the same period in 2024.
Overall, traffic to the 10 most-visited pornography sites in the UK have now stabilized at a significantly reduced level than before the end-of-July deadline. Subsequent data suggests this decline in viewing continued past August.
Sharp Increase in VPN Usage to Bypass Checks
Reacting to the new regulations, adoption of VPN software—which can get around location-based blocks by routing internet traffic through another country—surged after 25 July.
Usage peaked at more than 1.4 million in the middle of August, up from around 650,000 users before the checks began. Subsequently, the watchdog stated that VPN usage has afterwards steadily declined, with current figures at around 900,000. It clarified that the level of regular VPN use is “much lower” than traffic for pornography sites.
Teenagers Responding to Damaging Material
Elsewhere, the regulator's annual study revealed that about 60% of teenagers aged 11 to 17 had taken action after seeing harmful content on the internet. Steps taken included reporting the material to the platform to muting the person who shared it.
This research was carried out prior to new regulations came into force that compel platforms to prevent children from accessing harmful content, such as material related to suicide and adult material. The primary way young people encountered such content was by scrolling through a platform feed, indicating that algorithms were serving harmful material.
Government Announce Examination of Adult Content Legislation
In a related development, the ministers stated it would review the criminal law governing pornography to consider whether it is adequate in the modern online world.
“The examination will investigate the efficacy of the current law in regarding making illegal, among other things, harmful portrayals of incest and any types of pornography which promote child sexual abuse,” stated a justice minister.
Advocates Call For Stricter Digital Controls
Advocates for tighter control of online pornography have urged the authorities to outlaw so-called “barely legal” material. This encompasses content featuring simulated familial abuse or that encourages child sexual abuse by using youthful performers dressed as children.
Proposed changes to legislation seek to:
- Prohibit pornography where performers are mimicking children, sometimes filmed in environments like children’s bedrooms.
- Broaden the offence of creating an exploitative portrayal of a child to include material where an adult plays the role of a child.
- Introduce stricter controls on familial abuse pornography, which research indicates is often promoted by site systems.
- Add further restrictions on “nudification” software, potentially making it an illegal act to own software designed to create private images without permission.
- Establish a new, independent regulatory body to perform inspections on pornography sites and respond to reports of unlawful content.
The advocates contend that these steps would ensure the protections that have existed for years offline finally are extended to the online sphere.
