UK Pornography Site Visits Falls After Age Checks, Yet VPN Use Spikes, States Regulator
Access to pornography websites in the UK has fallen significantly since the roll-out of age-checking measures earlier this year, as reported by the nation's communications regulator. Concurrently, the adoption of tools designed to dodge these barriers has increased.
Sharp Fall in User Figures After Rule Implementation
The enforcement of age vetting on 25 July resulted in an immediate reduction in visits to popular online adult platforms, including the leading provider in the UK. Figures shows that user traffic to this site in August stood at 9.8 million, a drop of 1.5 million from the same period in 2024.
Overall, traffic to the 10 most-visited adult services in the UK have now settled at a markedly decreased volume than before the late July implementation date. Subsequent analysis indicates this downward trend in site visits persisted past August.
Sharp Increase in VPN Usage to Bypass Checks
In response to the new regulations, adoption of Virtual Private Networks (VPNs)—which can bypass geographic blocks by masking internet traffic through another nation—more than doubled following 25 July.
Usage peaked at over 1.4 million in mid-August, up from around 650,000 users before the verification were introduced. Subsequently, the watchdog noted that VPN usage has since steadily declined, with current numbers at approximately 900,000. It clarified that the level of daily VPN use is “much lower” than user numbers for pornography services.
Young People Responding to Damaging Online Content
In other findings, the regulator's annual study revealed that about 60% of young people aged 11 to 17 had taken action after encountering distressing content on the internet. Actions ranged from reporting the material to the site to muting the user who shared it.
This survey was conducted prior to new rules took effect that compel social media companies to prevent children from accessing dangerous content, such as material related to suicide and adult material. The most common way young people encountered such content was by scrolling through a platform feed, suggesting that recommendation systems were showing harmful material.
Government Launch Review of Pornography Laws
Separately, the government stated it would examine the legislation relating to pornography to consider whether it is effective in the modern digital age.
“The review will look into the effectiveness of the current law in relation to criminalising, among other things, damaging depictions of familial abuse and any forms of pornography which encourage the abuse of children,” stated a justice minister.
Campaigners Push For Tighter Digital Regulations
Advocates for better regulation of online pornography have called on the authorities to ban so-called “barely legal” material. This encompasses content featuring incest scenes or that encourages abuse by using youthful adults dressed as children.
Proposed changes to government bills seek to:
- Ban pornography where performers are impersonating children, often filmed in settings like children’s bedrooms.
- Extend the crime of making an exploitative portrayal of a child to cover material where an adult acts the part of a child.
- Apply stricter controls on incest-themed pornography, which research indicates is often promoted by site algorithms.
- Add further restrictions on “nudification” software, potentially making it an offence to possess tools designed to create private images without permission.
- Establish a new, independent oversight agency to perform inspections on adult platforms and respond to reports of illegal content.
The advocates argue that these steps would ensure the protections that have been enforced for decades in the physical world finally are extended to the online sphere.
