British Adult Content Traffic Declines Following Age Checks, But VPN Use Surges, States Regulator
Visitor numbers to pornography platforms in the UK has seen a notable drop after the roll-out of mandatory age verification earlier this year, according to the country's communications watchdog. Simultaneously, the use of tools designed to circumvent these blocks has increased.
Immediate Drop in Visitor Figures Following Law Enforcement
The introduction of age verification on 25 July caused an swift reduction in visits to popular pornography sites, including the top site in the UK. Figures reveals that visitor numbers to this platform in August reached 9.8 million, a decrease of 1.5 million compared to the equivalent month in 2024.
In total, visitor numbers to the ten most-visited pornography sites in the UK have now settled at a “lower level” than before the end-of-July deadline. Subsequent data shows this decline in viewing persisted past August.
Surge in VPN Adoption to Bypass Checks
Reacting to the new rules, adoption of Virtual Private Networks (VPNs)—which can get around location-based restrictions by routing internet traffic via another country—increased dramatically after 25 July.
User numbers peaked at over 1.4 million in mid-August, rising from approximately 650,000 users prior to the verification began. However, the regulator stated that VPN usage has since steadily declined, with current figures standing at approximately 900,000. It clarified that the volume of daily VPN use is “much lower” than traffic for adult services.
Young People Taking Action to Damaging Online Content
Elsewhere, the regulator's annual study found that about 60% of young people aged 11 to 17 had acted after encountering distressing content on the internet. Steps taken included flagging the content to the site to muting the user who posted it.
This research was conducted before new rules took effect that compel social media companies to stop children from accessing harmful content, including material related to self-harm and adult material. The most common way young people came across such content was by looking through a platform feed, indicating that recommendation systems were serving harmful material.
Government Launch Examination of Adult Content Laws
In a related development, the ministers stated it would review the legislation relating to pornography to assess whether it is “fit for purpose” in the modern online world.
“The examination will look into the efficacy of the current law in regarding making illegal, for example, harmful portrayals of incest and any forms of pornography which promote child sexual abuse,” said a government official.
Advocates Call For Tighter Online Controls
Advocates for tighter control of online pornography 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 performers portraying children.
Suggested amendments to legislation aim to:
- Ban pornography where adults are mimicking children, sometimes filmed in environments like children’s bedrooms.
- Extend the offence of creating an indecent image of a child to cover material where an adult acts the part of a child.
- Apply tighter regulation on incest-themed pornography, which studies suggests is heavily recommended by site systems.
- Introduce further controls on “nudification” technology, potentially making it an illegal act to possess software designed to generate private images without permission.
- Create a new, separate regulatory body to perform inspections on adult platforms and respond to reports of illegal content.
The campaigners contend that these steps would ensure the safeguards that have been enforced for years offline finally apply to the digital age.
