British Pornography Traffic Declines Following Age Checks, But Virtual Private Network Use Spikes, States Regulator
Access to pornography sites in the United Kingdom has fallen significantly since the roll-out of mandatory age verification this summer, as reported by the country's communications regulator. Simultaneously, the use of tools designed to dodge these barriers has surged.
Sharp Drop in User Numbers After Rule Enforcement
The enforcement of age verification on 25 July caused an prompt reduction in visits to leading online adult platforms, such as the top site in the UK. Figures shows that visitor numbers to this platform in August reached 9.8 million, a decline of 1.5 million compared to the same period in 2024.
Overall, visitor numbers to the ten top pornography sites in the UK have now settled at a significantly reduced level than before the late July deadline. Later data shows this decline in viewing persisted beyond August.
Surge in Virtual Private Network Adoption to Evade Checks
Reacting to the new rules, use of VPN software—which can get around location-based restrictions by masking internet traffic via another nation—more than doubled following 25 July.
User numbers reached a high at more than 1.4 million in the middle of August, rising from approximately 650,000 people prior to the checks began. Subsequently, the watchdog noted that VPN usage has afterwards steadily declined, with current figures standing at around 900,000. It clarified that the volume of regular VPN use remains “much lower” than user numbers for pornography sites.
Young People Taking Action to Damaging Material
Elsewhere, the regulator's report found that about 60% of teenagers aged 11 to 17 had taken action after seeing damaging content on the internet. Actions ranged from flagging the material to the site to muting the person who shared it.
This research was conducted prior to new rules took effect that require social media companies to prevent children from accessing dangerous content, such as material related to self-harm and pornography. The primary way young people encountered such content was by scrolling through a platform feed, suggesting that recommendation systems were serving inappropriate material.
Ministers Announce Review of Pornography Legislation
In a related development, the ministers stated it would review the criminal law relating to pornography to assess whether it is effective in the ever-developing digital age.
“The review will look into the efficacy of the current law in relation to criminalising, for example, damaging depictions of familial abuse and any forms of pornography which encourage the abuse of children,” said a justice minister.
Advocates Call For Tighter Online Controls
Campaigners for better control of online pornography have called on the government to ban so-called “barely legal” material. This encompasses content featuring simulated familial abuse or that encourages child sexual abuse by using young-looking performers portraying children.
Suggested amendments to legislation seek to:
- Prohibit pornography where performers are impersonating children, often recorded in settings like children’s bedrooms.
- Broaden the offence of creating an exploitative portrayal of a child to cover material where an older performer plays the role of a child.
- Introduce tighter controls on familial abuse pornography, which research suggests is heavily recommended by site systems.
- Add further restrictions on “nudification” technology, potentially making it an offence to own tools designed to generate private images without permission.
- Create a new, separate oversight agency to perform spot checks on adult platforms and act on reports of unlawful content.
The campaigners argue that these steps would ensure the protections that have existed for years offline finally apply to the digital age.
