British Pornography Traffic Declines Following Age Checks, Yet VPN Usage Surges, Reports Regulator
Access to pornography websites in the United Kingdom has fallen significantly after the introduction of mandatory age verification earlier this year, as reported by the country's communications watchdog. Simultaneously, the adoption of tools designed to bypass these barriers has risen.
Sharp Fall in User Numbers After Rule Implementation
The enforcement of age vetting on 25 July caused an immediate fall in traffic to major pornography sites, such as the top site in the UK. Data shows that visitor numbers to this site in August were 9.8 million, a drop of 1.5 million compared to the equivalent month in 2024.
In total, traffic to the ten top pornography sites in the UK have now settled at a “lower level” than prior to the end-of-July deadline. Later data suggests this decline in viewing continued beyond August.
Surge in Virtual Private Network Adoption to Bypass Checks
Reacting to the new regulations, adoption of Virtual Private Networks (VPNs)—which can circumvent geographic restrictions by routing internet traffic via another nation—surged after 25 July.
Usage peaked at over 1.4 million in mid-August, rising from around 650,000 people before the verification were introduced. Subsequently, the watchdog noted that VPN usage has afterwards decreased, with latest numbers at approximately 900,000. It clarified that the volume of daily VPN use remains “much lower” than user numbers for pornography services.
Teenagers Taking Action to Damaging Online Content
Elsewhere, the watchdog's annual study revealed that about 60% of teenagers aged 11 to 17 had acted after encountering harmful content on the internet. Steps taken included flagging the material to the site to muting the user who posted it.
This research was carried out before new rules came into force that compel social media companies to prevent children from seeing dangerous content, such as material related to suicide and adult material. The most common way teenagers came across such content was by looking through a social media timeline, indicating that algorithms were serving harmful material.
Government Announce Review of Pornography Laws
Separately, the government stated it would examine the legislation governing pornography to consider whether it is effective in the modern digital age.
“The examination will look into the efficacy of the existing law in regarding making illegal, among other things, damaging depictions of familial abuse and any forms of pornography which promote the abuse of children,” stated a government official.
Campaigners Push For Stricter Online Controls
Advocates for better regulation of adult content have called on the authorities to outlaw so-called “barely legal” material. This includes content featuring incest scenes or that encourages child sexual abuse by casting young-looking performers portraying children.
Proposed amendments to government bills aim to:
- Ban pornography where performers are impersonating children, sometimes filmed in environments like children’s bedrooms.
- Broaden the crime of making an exploitative portrayal of a child to include material where an older performer plays the role of a child.
- Apply stricter regulation on incest-themed pornography, which research suggests is heavily recommended by site algorithms.
- Introduce additional controls on “nudification” software, potentially making it an illegal act to own software designed to create non-consensual nude images.
- Establish a new, independent regulatory body to perform inspections on pornography sites and respond to complaints of illegal content.
The advocates contend that these steps would ensure the protections that have been enforced for years in the physical world finally are extended to the digital age.
