British Adult Content Site Visits Falls Following Age Verifications, Yet Virtual Private Network Usage Spikes, States Regulator
Access to pornography platforms in the United Kingdom has seen a notable drop since the enforcement of mandatory age verification earlier this year, according to the country's communications regulator. At the same time, the use of specialist software designed to circumvent these barriers has risen.
Sharp Drop in User Figures After Law Enforcement
The introduction of age vetting on 25 July led to an swift fall in traffic to leading pornography sites, including the top site in the UK. Data indicates that visitor numbers to this site in August stood at 9.8 million, a decrease of 1.5 million compared to the equivalent month in 2024.
Overall, visitor numbers to the ten most-visited 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 viewing continued past August.
Sharp Increase in VPN Adoption to Bypass Checks
In response to the new regulations, adoption of VPN software—which can get around location-based blocks by routing connections via another country—surged after 25 July.
Usage reached a high at over 1.4 million in mid-August, up from around 650,000 people before the verification began. Subsequently, the regulator noted that VPN usage has afterwards steadily declined, with latest numbers at approximately 900,000. It clarified that the level of daily VPN use is “much lower” than traffic for pornography services.
Young People Taking Action to Harmful Material
In other findings, the regulator's annual study revealed that about 60% of young people aged 11 to 17 had acted after encountering damaging content on the internet. Actions included reporting the material to the platform to blocking the person who shared it.
This survey was conducted prior to new rules came into force that require platforms to prevent children from seeing harmful content, including material related to suicide and pornography. The primary way teenagers came across such content was by scrolling through a platform feed, suggesting that recommendation systems were serving harmful material.
Government Launch Review of Pornography Legislation
In a related development, the ministers stated it would review the legislation relating to pornography to assess whether it is “fit for purpose” in the ever-developing digital age.
“The review will look into the effectiveness of the current law in regarding making illegal, for example, harmful portrayals of familial abuse and any forms of pornography which encourage child sexual abuse,” said a justice minister.
Campaigners Call For Tighter Online Regulations
Advocates for better control of adult content have called on the government to ban so-called “barely legal” material. This includes content featuring simulated familial abuse or that encourages abuse by casting young-looking performers portraying children.
Suggested amendments to legislation seek to:
- Ban pornography where performers are mimicking children, sometimes recorded in settings like children’s bedrooms.
- Broaden the crime of making an indecent image of a child to include material where an adult acts the part of a child.
- Introduce tighter controls on familial abuse pornography, which studies indicates is often promoted by site algorithms.
- Add further controls on “nudification” software, potentially making it an offence to possess tools designed to create private images without permission.
- Establish a new, separate regulatory body to conduct spot checks on pornography sites and act on complaints of illegal content.
The advocates contend that these measures would ensure the safeguards that have existed for decades in the physical world finally apply to the digital age.