UK Pornography Site Visits Declines Following Identity Verifications, But Virtual Private Network Use Spikes, Reports Watchdog
Visitor numbers to pornography websites in the United Kingdom has seen a notable drop after the roll-out of age-checking measures this summer, according to the nation's communications authority. Concurrently, the usage of specialist software designed to bypass these barriers has surged.
Sharp Drop in Visitor Numbers Following Law Implementation
The introduction of age verification on 25 July led to an immediate fall in visits to major online adult platforms, such as the top provider in the UK. Data indicates that visitor numbers to this platform in August stood at 9.8 million, a drop of 1.5 million from the same period in 2024.
Overall, traffic to the ten top adult services in the UK have now settled at a markedly decreased volume than before the end-of-July deadline. Later analysis shows this downward trend in viewing continued beyond August.
Surge in VPN Usage to Evade Checks
Reacting to the new rules, adoption of VPN software—which can circumvent geographic blocks by routing internet traffic via another nation—increased dramatically following 25 July.
Usage peaked at over 1.4 million in the middle of August, up from around 650,000 people prior to the verification began. Subsequently, the watchdog noted that VPN usage has since fallen back, with current figures standing at approximately 900,000. It added that the volume of daily VPN use remains “much lower” than user numbers for adult services.
Teenagers Taking Action to Harmful Material
Elsewhere, the regulator's annual study found that about 60% of teenagers aged 11 to 17 had taken action after seeing harmful content online. Steps taken ranged from flagging the material to the platform to muting the user who shared it.
This research was conducted prior to new regulations took effect that compel social media companies to stop children from seeing dangerous content, including material related to self-harm and adult material. The primary way young people encountered such content was by scrolling through a social media feed, indicating that algorithms were serving harmful material.
Government Announce Examination of Pornography Laws
In a related development, the ministers announced it would examine the criminal law relating to pornography to consider whether it is adequate in the modern online world.
“The review will investigate the efficacy of the existing law in relation to making illegal, for example, damaging depictions of familial abuse and any types of pornography which encourage the abuse of children,” said a justice minister.
Advocates Call For Tighter Online Controls
Campaigners for tighter control of adult content have urged the authorities to outlaw so-called “barely legal” material. This includes content featuring simulated familial abuse or that appears to promote abuse by using young-looking performers portraying children.
Suggested changes to government bills seek to:
- Ban pornography where adults are impersonating children, often filmed in environments like children’s bedrooms.
- Extend the crime of making an indecent image of a child to cover material where an adult plays the role of a child.
- Apply stricter controls on incest-themed pornography, which research suggests is often promoted by platform systems.
- Introduce additional controls on “nudification” software, potentially making it an offence to possess tools designed to create non-consensual nude images.
- Establish a new, separate oversight agency to perform spot checks on adult platforms and respond to complaints of unlawful content.
The campaigners argue that these measures would ensure the safeguards that have existed for decades in the physical world finally apply to the online sphere.
