UK Pornography Site Visits Declines After Age Verifications, But VPN Usage Spikes, States Watchdog
Visitor numbers to pornography sites in the UK has seen a notable drop since the enforcement of mandatory age verification earlier this year, according to the country's communications authority. Concurrently, the adoption of specialist software designed to bypass these restrictions has surged.
Sharp Drop in Visitor Numbers After Law Implementation
The enforcement of age verification on 25 July resulted in an immediate decline in visits to leading pornography sites, such as the top site in the UK. Figures reveals that visitor numbers to this platform in August were 9.8 million, a decline of 1.5 million compared to the equivalent month in 2024.
In total, visitor numbers to the ten most-visited adult services in the UK have now stabilized at a markedly decreased volume than before the end-of-July deadline. Subsequent data indicates this downward trend in viewing persisted past August.
Sharp Increase in Virtual Private Network Usage to Bypass Checks
Reacting to the new rules, adoption of VPN software—which can bypass location-based blocks by masking internet traffic via another country—surged after 25 July.
User numbers peaked at more than 1.4 million in mid-August, rising from approximately 650,000 people before the checks began. Subsequently, the regulator stated that VPN usage has since fallen back, with latest numbers standing at approximately 900,000. It clarified that the level of daily VPN use is “much lower” than traffic for adult sites.
Teenagers Taking Action to Damaging Material
Elsewhere, the regulator's report found that about 60% of young people aged 11 to 17 had acted after encountering damaging content on the internet. Actions ranged from reporting the material to the platform to blocking the person who posted it.
This survey was carried out before new rules took effect that compel platforms to stop children from seeing dangerous 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 timeline, suggesting that recommendation systems were serving harmful material.
Ministers Launch Examination of Adult Content Legislation
In a related development, the ministers announced it would examine the legislation governing pornography to assess whether it is adequate in the modern online world.
“The examination will look into the effectiveness of the existing law in relation to criminalising, for example, damaging depictions of incest and any types of pornography which encourage child sexual abuse,” stated a justice minister.
Advocates Call For Tighter Online Regulations
Advocates for better regulation of online pornography have called on the authorities to outlaw so-called “barely legal” material. This includes content featuring incest scenes or that encourages abuse by casting youthful performers dressed as children.
Proposed changes to legislation aim to:
- Ban pornography where adults are impersonating children, often filmed in settings like children’s bedrooms.
- Broaden the offence of making an indecent image of a child to include material where an older performer plays the role of a child.
- Introduce stricter regulation on incest-themed pornography, which research suggests is heavily recommended by platform systems.
- Introduce further controls on “nudification” technology, potentially making it an offence to possess software designed to create private images without permission.
- Create a new, independent regulatory body to perform inspections on pornography sites and respond to reports of unlawful content.
The campaigners argue that these steps would ensure the safeguards that have been enforced for decades in the physical world finally apply to the digital age.
