UK Pornography Site Visits Declines Following Identity Verifications, But VPN Usage Surges, Reports Regulator
Access to adult content sites in the UK has decreased markedly after the introduction of mandatory age verification this summer, as reported by the country's communications authority. Concurrently, the use of tools designed to circumvent these blocks has increased.
Immediate Drop in User Numbers After Law Enforcement
The introduction of age verification on 25 July caused an swift reduction in traffic to popular pornography sites, such as the top site in the UK. Figures indicates that visitor numbers to this platform in August stood at 9.8 million, a decrease of 1.5 million from the same period in 2024.
Overall, traffic to the 10 top pornography sites in the UK have now settled at a significantly reduced level than prior to the late July deadline. Subsequent data suggests this decline in site visits continued beyond August.
Surge in Virtual Private Network Usage to Bypass Checks
In response to the new rules, adoption of VPN software—which can get around location-based restrictions by masking connections via another nation—increased dramatically following 25 July.
User numbers peaked at over 1.4 million in mid-August, up from around 650,000 people before the checks began. Subsequently, the regulator noted that VPN usage has since steadily declined, with latest figures standing at around 900,000. It clarified that the level of regular VPN use remains “much lower” than user numbers for pornography sites.
Young People Taking Action to Harmful Online Content
In other findings, the watchdog's report revealed that about 60% of teenagers aged 11 to 17 had acted after encountering harmful content on the internet. Steps taken ranged from reporting the content to the platform to muting the person who posted it.
This survey was carried out prior to new rules took effect that compel platforms to prevent children from seeing harmful content, such as material related to self-harm and adult material. The most common way teenagers encountered such content was by looking through a platform feed, indicating that recommendation systems were showing harmful material.
Ministers Announce Examination of Pornography Laws
In a related development, the ministers stated it would examine the legislation governing pornography to consider whether it is effective in the modern online world.
“The examination will investigate the efficacy of the current law in regarding criminalising, for example, harmful portrayals of incest and any forms of pornography which encourage the abuse of children,” said a government official.
Campaigners Push For Stricter Online Controls
Advocates for tighter 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 child sexual abuse by casting youthful adults portraying children.
Suggested amendments to legislation aim to:
- Ban pornography where performers are mimicking children, often recorded in settings like children’s bedrooms.
- Extend the crime of creating an indecent image of a child to include material where an adult acts the part of a child.
- Apply stricter regulation on incest-themed pornography, which research indicates is heavily recommended by platform algorithms.
- Add further controls on “nudification” software, potentially making it an illegal act to own software designed to generate non-consensual nude images.
- Create a new, separate oversight agency to perform inspections on pornography sites and respond to complaints of unlawful content.
The advocates argue that these steps would ensure the protections that have been enforced for years offline finally apply to the online sphere.
