UK Pornography Site Visits Declines Following Age Checks, But VPN Usage Spikes, Reports Regulator
Traffic to pornography websites in the United Kingdom has seen a notable drop since the roll-out of mandatory age verification earlier this year, as reported by the country's communications authority. At the same time, the adoption of tools designed to circumvent these blocks has increased.
Sharp Fall in User Figures Following Rule Enforcement
The introduction of age verification on 25 July caused an swift decline in traffic to popular pornography sites, including the most visited provider in the UK. Data shows that visitor numbers to this platform in August were 9.8 million, a decrease of 1.5 million from the same period in 2024.
In total, traffic to the ten most-visited pornography sites in the UK have now stabilized at a markedly decreased volume than before the late July implementation date. Later analysis indicates this downward trend in viewing persisted beyond August.
Sharp Increase in VPN Usage to Bypass Checks
Reacting to the new rules, use of Virtual Private Networks (VPNs)—which can get around location-based restrictions by routing connections through another nation—increased dramatically after 25 July.
Usage reached a high at over 1.4 million in mid-August, up from around 650,000 people prior to the verification began. Subsequently, the watchdog noted that VPN usage has since steadily declined, with latest figures at approximately 900,000. It clarified that the level of regular VPN use is “much lower” than traffic for pornography sites.
Teenagers Taking Action to Damaging Online Content
In other findings, the watchdog's annual study found that about 60% of young people aged 11 to 17 had taken action after seeing harmful content on the internet. Steps taken ranged from flagging the material to the platform to muting the person who shared it.
This research was carried out prior to new regulations came into force that compel platforms to stop children from accessing harmful content, such as material related to self-harm and pornography. The most common way young people came across such content was by scrolling through a social media timeline, indicating that recommendation systems were serving inappropriate material.
Ministers Announce Examination of Pornography Legislation
Separately, the government stated it would review the legislation governing pornography to assess whether it is effective in the ever-developing digital age.
“The examination will investigate the effectiveness of the existing law in regarding criminalising, among other things, damaging portrayals of familial abuse and any types of pornography which encourage child sexual abuse,” stated a government official.
Advocates Push For Stricter Digital Controls
Campaigners for better control of online pornography have urged the authorities to outlaw so-called “barely legal” material. This encompasses content featuring simulated familial abuse or that encourages child sexual abuse by casting young-looking performers dressed as children.
Suggested amendments to government bills aim to:
- Ban pornography where adults are impersonating children, sometimes filmed in environments like children’s bedrooms.
- Extend the crime of making an exploitative portrayal of a child to cover material where an older performer plays the role of a child.
- Apply tighter regulation on incest-themed pornography, which research indicates is often promoted by site algorithms.
- Introduce further restrictions on “nudification” software, potentially making it an offence to own tools designed to generate private images without permission.
- Establish a new, independent oversight agency to perform inspections on pornography sites and respond to reports of unlawful content.
The advocates argue that these measures would ensure the safeguards that have been enforced for decades offline finally apply to the online sphere.
