British Pornography Site Visits Falls Following Age Checks, Yet Virtual Private Network Usage Surges, States Regulator
Traffic to adult content sites in the UK has seen a notable drop since the introduction of age-checking measures this summer, as reported by the country's communications authority. At the same time, the use of tools designed to dodge these barriers has risen.
Immediate Fall in Visitor Figures Following Law Implementation
The enforcement of age vetting on 25 July caused an swift fall in visits to leading pornography sites, including the most visited site in the UK. Figures shows that user traffic to this site in August reached 9.8 million, a drop of 1.5 million compared to the same period in 2024.
Overall, visitor numbers to the ten most-visited pornography sites in the UK have now settled at a “lower level” than prior to the end-of-July deadline. Subsequent analysis indicates this slump in site visits continued past August.
Surge in Virtual Private Network Adoption to Bypass Restrictions
Reacting to the new rules, adoption of Virtual Private Networks (VPNs)—which can circumvent geographic blocks by routing connections through another nation—surged after 25 July.
User numbers reached a high at more than 1.4 million in the middle of August, rising from around 650,000 users prior to the verification were introduced. However, the watchdog stated that VPN usage has afterwards fallen back, with current figures at approximately 900,000. It added that the level of regular VPN use is “much lower” than traffic for pornography sites.
Teenagers Taking Action to Damaging Material
Elsewhere, the regulator's annual study found that about 60% of young people aged 11 to 17 had taken action after seeing distressing content on the internet. Steps taken ranged from reporting the material to the platform to blocking the user who shared it.
This research was conducted before new rules came into force that require social media companies to stop children from accessing harmful content, such as material related to self-harm and adult material. The most common way young people encountered such content was by looking through a platform timeline, indicating that recommendation systems were serving inappropriate material.
Ministers Announce Review of Pornography Laws
In a related development, the government announced it would review the legislation relating to pornography to assess whether it is adequate in the ever-developing online world.
“The review will look into the efficacy of the current law in regarding criminalising, among other things, harmful depictions of incest and any forms of pornography which promote child sexual abuse,” stated a justice minister.
Campaigners Call For Tighter Digital Regulations
Campaigners for better control of adult content have called on 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 dressed as children.
Proposed amendments to legislation seek to:
- Ban pornography where adults are mimicking children, sometimes filmed in settings like children’s bedrooms.
- Extend the crime of creating an indecent image of a child to cover material where an older performer acts the part of a child.
- Introduce stricter controls on familial abuse pornography, which research suggests is often promoted by platform systems.
- Add additional restrictions on “nudification” technology, potentially making it an illegal act to possess software designed to generate non-consensual nude images.
- Create a new, independent oversight agency to conduct inspections on pornography sites and respond to reports of unlawful content.
The campaigners contend that these measures would ensure the safeguards that have been enforced for years in the physical world finally are extended to the digital age.
