British Pornography Site Visits Declines Following Identity Checks, But VPN Usage Spikes, Reports Watchdog
Traffic to pornography sites in the UK has seen a notable drop after the introduction of age-checking measures earlier this year, as reported by the country's communications regulator. Simultaneously, the use of specialist software designed to circumvent these blocks has surged.
Immediate Drop in Visitor Figures After Rule Enforcement
The enforcement of age vetting on 25 July caused an prompt reduction in visits to major pornography sites, including the most visited provider in the UK. Figures reveals that visitor numbers to this platform in August stood at 9.8 million, a decrease of 1.5 million compared to the same period in 2024.
Overall, visitor numbers to the 10 most-visited pornography sites in the UK have now stabilized at a markedly decreased volume than prior to the late July deadline. Subsequent data shows this slump in viewing persisted past August.
Surge in VPN Adoption to Evade Checks
In response to the new regulations, use of Virtual Private Networks (VPNs)—which can bypass location-based blocks by masking internet traffic via another country—surged after 25 July.
Usage reached a high at over 1.4 million in the middle of August, up from approximately 650,000 people before the verification began. However, the regulator noted that VPN usage has afterwards decreased, with latest figures at around 900,000. It clarified that the volume of regular VPN use remains “much lower” than traffic for pornography sites.
Young People Taking Action to Damaging Material
Elsewhere, the regulator's report 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 content to the platform to blocking the person who posted it.
This research was conducted prior to new regulations came into force that compel platforms to stop children from accessing dangerous content, including material related to self-harm and adult material. The primary way teenagers encountered such content was by scrolling through a social media feed, indicating that recommendation systems were showing harmful material.
Ministers Announce Review of Pornography Laws
In a related development, the government 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 efficacy of the current law in regarding criminalising, among other things, damaging portrayals of familial abuse and any forms of pornography which promote child sexual abuse,” stated a government official.
Advocates Call For Tighter Online Regulations
Advocates for better control of adult content have called on the authorities to outlaw so-called “barely legal” material. This encompasses content featuring incest scenes or that appears to promote abuse by using young-looking adults portraying children.
Proposed changes to legislation seek to:
- Ban pornography where adults are impersonating children, sometimes filmed in settings like children’s bedrooms.
- Extend the crime of creating an exploitative portrayal of a child to include material where an older performer acts the part of a child.
- Apply tighter regulation on familial abuse pornography, which studies indicates is often promoted by site systems.
- Introduce further restrictions on “nudification” software, potentially making it an offence to own tools designed to create non-consensual nude images.
- Create a new, independent regulatory body to perform spot checks on pornography sites and respond to complaints of illegal content.
The advocates contend that these measures would ensure the protections that have been enforced for years in the physical world finally are extended to the online sphere.
