British Pornography Traffic Falls Following Identity Verifications, Yet Virtual Private Network Use Spikes, States Regulator
Access to pornography websites in the United Kingdom has seen a notable drop since the roll-out of age-checking measures earlier this year, according to the nation's communications regulator. Concurrently, the adoption of specialist software designed to bypass these blocks has increased.
Sharp Drop in Visitor Numbers Following Law Implementation
The introduction of age verification on 25 July resulted in an prompt decline in traffic to leading online adult platforms, including the top provider in the UK. Figures reveals that user traffic to this platform in August reached 9.8 million, a drop of 1.5 million from the same period in 2024.
Overall, traffic to the ten top adult services in the UK have now settled at a significantly reduced level than before the late July implementation date. Later analysis indicates this downward trend in site visits continued beyond August.
Sharp Increase in VPN Adoption to Evade Restrictions
In response to the new rules, use of VPN software—which can get around geographic blocks by masking internet traffic via another country—surged following 25 July.
Usage peaked at over 1.4 million in the middle of August, up from approximately 650,000 users prior to the verification were introduced. Subsequently, the watchdog stated that VPN usage has afterwards fallen back, with latest numbers standing at around 900,000. It added that the volume of regular VPN use is “much lower” than user numbers for adult services.
Teenagers Responding to Damaging Material
Elsewhere, the regulator's annual study found that about 60% of teenagers aged 11 to 17 had acted after encountering harmful content online. Actions included flagging the content to the platform to muting the user who posted it.
This research was carried out before new rules came into force that require social media companies to prevent children from accessing harmful content, such as material related to suicide and adult material. The most common way young people encountered such content was by looking through a social media timeline, indicating that algorithms were serving inappropriate material.
Government Announce Examination of Adult Content Laws
Separately, the ministers stated it would examine the legislation governing pornography to consider whether it is adequate in the modern digital age.
“The examination will investigate the efficacy of the current law in regarding criminalising, among other things, damaging portrayals of incest and any types of pornography which promote the abuse of children,” stated a justice minister.
Advocates Call For Stricter Online Regulations
Advocates for tighter regulation 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 casting youthful performers portraying children.
Suggested changes to government bills seek to:
- Ban pornography where performers are mimicking children, sometimes recorded in settings like children’s bedrooms.
- Extend the crime of making an indecent image of a child to include material where an older performer plays the role of a child.
- Apply stricter regulation on incest-themed pornography, which research suggests is often promoted by site algorithms.
- Introduce additional restrictions on “nudification” software, potentially making it an offence to own software designed to create non-consensual nude images.
- Create a new, independent oversight agency to perform inspections on pornography sites and act on complaints of unlawful content.
The campaigners argue that these measures would ensure the protections that have been enforced for years offline finally are extended to the online sphere.
