UK Pornography Site Visits Declines After Age Checks, But VPN Usage Surges, States Watchdog
Access to pornography platforms in the United Kingdom has decreased markedly since the enforcement of age-checking measures this summer, as reported by the country's communications authority. Concurrently, the adoption of tools designed to circumvent these barriers has increased.
Immediate Drop in Visitor Figures After Law Implementation
The introduction of age vetting on 25 July caused an immediate fall in traffic to leading pornography sites, such as the leading site in the UK. Data indicates that visitor numbers to this platform in August were 9.8 million, a decline of 1.5 million from the equivalent month in 2024.
In total, traffic to the ten top pornography sites in the UK have now settled at a significantly reduced level than prior to the late July implementation date. Later data indicates this downward trend in viewing continued past August.
Sharp Increase in Virtual Private Network Usage to Bypass Checks
Reacting to the new rules, adoption of VPN software—which can circumvent geographic blocks by masking internet traffic via another country—surged following 25 July.
User numbers peaked at over 1.4 million in mid-August, rising from around 650,000 people prior to the checks were introduced. Subsequently, the regulator noted that VPN usage has afterwards fallen back, with latest figures standing at around 900,000. It clarified that the level of regular VPN use remains “much lower” than traffic for pornography sites.
Young People Responding to Damaging Material
Elsewhere, the watchdog's annual study revealed that about 60% of teenagers aged 11 to 17 had taken action after seeing damaging content on the internet. Steps taken included reporting the material to the platform to muting the user who posted it.
This research was conducted before new regulations came into force that compel platforms to stop children from seeing dangerous content, such as material related to self-harm and pornography. The primary way teenagers encountered such content was by scrolling through a social media feed, indicating that algorithms were serving harmful material.
Ministers Announce Review of Adult Content Legislation
Separately, the ministers stated it would review the criminal law relating to pornography to assess whether it is “fit for purpose” in the ever-developing online world.
“The review will investigate the efficacy of the current law in regarding criminalising, for example, harmful portrayals of incest and any forms of pornography which encourage child sexual abuse,” stated a justice minister.
Advocates Push For Tighter Digital Regulations
Advocates for tighter regulation of adult content have urged the authorities to ban so-called “barely legal” material. This encompasses content featuring simulated familial abuse or that appears to promote abuse by casting youthful adults portraying children.
Proposed amendments to legislation aim to:
- Prohibit pornography where performers are impersonating children, often recorded in environments like children’s bedrooms.
- Broaden the crime of making an exploitative portrayal of a child to cover material where an older performer acts the part of a child.
- Introduce tighter regulation on familial abuse pornography, which studies indicates is heavily recommended by platform algorithms.
- Introduce further restrictions on “nudification” software, potentially making it an illegal act to own tools designed to generate private images without permission.
- Establish a new, separate regulatory body to perform spot checks on pornography sites and respond to reports of unlawful content.
The campaigners contend that these steps would ensure the protections that have existed for decades in the physical world finally are extended to the online sphere.
