UK Pornography Traffic Falls Following Identity Verifications, Yet VPN Use Surges, States Regulator
Visitor numbers to pornography platforms in the UK has decreased markedly after the introduction of age-checking measures this summer, according to the country's communications authority. Concurrently, the usage of specialist software designed to circumvent these restrictions has risen.
Sharp Drop in Visitor Figures After Law Enforcement
The enforcement of age verification on 25 July resulted in an swift decline in visits to popular online adult platforms, including the leading provider in the UK. Data shows that user traffic to this site in August reached 9.8 million, a decrease of 1.5 million compared to the same period in 2024.
In total, visitor numbers to the 10 most-visited pornography sites in the UK have now stabilized at a markedly decreased volume than before the late July deadline. Subsequent data shows this decline in site visits continued past August.
Surge in VPN Adoption to Bypass Restrictions
In response to the new rules, adoption of VPN software—which can bypass geographic restrictions by routing internet traffic through another nation—more than doubled following 25 July.
Usage reached a high at more than 1.4 million in the middle of August, rising from around 650,000 users before the verification began. However, the watchdog stated that VPN usage has afterwards fallen back, with latest numbers standing at around 900,000. It clarified that the level of regular VPN use remains “much lower” than user numbers for adult sites.
Young People Responding to Harmful Material
Elsewhere, the watchdog's annual study found that about 60% of teenagers aged 11 to 17 had taken action after encountering harmful content on the internet. Steps taken included flagging the content to the platform to blocking the user who shared it.
This survey was conducted prior to new rules came into force that require social media companies to stop children from seeing dangerous content, including material related to suicide and adult material. The primary way teenagers encountered such content was by scrolling through a platform feed, indicating that algorithms were showing harmful material.
Ministers Announce Review of Adult Content Laws
Separately, the ministers stated it would examine the criminal law governing pornography to assess whether it is effective in the modern digital age.
“The examination will investigate the effectiveness of the current law in relation to criminalising, for example, harmful depictions of incest and any forms of pornography which encourage child sexual abuse,” said a justice minister.
Advocates Call For Stricter Online Controls
Advocates for better regulation of online pornography have urged the authorities to outlaw so-called “barely legal” material. This encompasses content featuring simulated familial abuse or that appears to promote abuse by using youthful adults portraying children.
Proposed amendments to government bills aim to:
- Prohibit pornography where performers are impersonating children, sometimes recorded in settings like children’s bedrooms.
- Extend the offence of creating an exploitative portrayal of a child to cover material where an older performer plays the role of a child.
- Apply stricter regulation on familial abuse pornography, which research suggests is often promoted by site systems.
- Add further controls on “nudification” technology, potentially making it an illegal act to possess tools designed to generate private images without permission.
- Establish a new, independent regulatory body to perform spot checks on adult platforms and act on reports of illegal content.
The campaigners contend that these measures would ensure the protections that have existed for decades in the physical world finally apply to the online sphere.
