UK Adult Content Site Visits Declines Following Age Verifications, But Virtual Private Network Usage Spikes, States Watchdog
Access to pornography platforms in the United Kingdom has decreased markedly after the roll-out of mandatory age verification this summer, according to the country's communications regulator. Concurrently, the usage of tools designed to bypass these blocks has surged.
Sharp Drop in User Numbers After Law Implementation
The introduction of age vetting on 25 July caused an swift decline in traffic to leading pornography sites, including the leading provider in the UK. Data shows that user traffic to this site in August stood at 9.8 million, a decline of 1.5 million compared to the equivalent month in 2024.
Overall, traffic to the 10 most-visited adult services in the UK have now stabilized at a significantly reduced level than prior to the late July implementation date. Subsequent data suggests this decline in viewing persisted beyond August.
Surge in VPN Usage to Evade Checks
Reacting to the new regulations, adoption of VPN software—which can get around location-based blocks by masking internet traffic via another country—surged following 25 July.
Usage reached a high at more than 1.4 million in mid-August, rising from approximately 650,000 users prior to the verification began. Subsequently, the watchdog stated that VPN usage has afterwards fallen back, with current figures at around 900,000. It added that the volume of daily VPN use is “much lower” than user numbers for pornography services.
Young People Taking Action to Damaging Material
In other findings, the watchdog's report revealed that about 60% of young people aged 11 to 17 had acted after seeing distressing content on the internet. Steps taken included flagging the material to the site to muting the person who shared it.
This survey was conducted before new rules came into force that compel social media companies to prevent children from accessing harmful content, such as material related to suicide and adult material. The most common way young people came across such content was by scrolling through a platform timeline, indicating that algorithms were serving inappropriate material.
Ministers Announce Examination of Pornography Laws
In a related development, the ministers stated it would review the criminal law relating to pornography to consider whether it is adequate in the modern online world.
“The examination will investigate the effectiveness of the existing law in relation to criminalising, among other things, damaging depictions of familial abuse and any types of pornography which encourage child sexual abuse,” said a justice minister.
Advocates Call For Stricter Digital Regulations
Advocates for tighter control of online pornography have urged the authorities to ban so-called “barely legal” material. This encompasses content featuring incest scenes or that encourages abuse by casting youthful adults dressed as children.
Suggested amendments to legislation seek to:
- Ban pornography where adults are impersonating children, often recorded in settings like children’s bedrooms.
- Extend the offence of making an indecent image of a child to include material where an older performer plays the role of a child.
- Introduce stricter regulation on incest-themed pornography, which studies suggests is heavily recommended by platform algorithms.
- Introduce further controls on “nudification” technology, potentially making it an offence to possess software designed to generate non-consensual nude images.
- Create a new, independent regulatory body to perform inspections on adult platforms and act on reports of unlawful content.
The campaigners contend that these measures would ensure the safeguards that have been enforced for decades offline finally apply to the online sphere.
