UK Pornography Traffic Declines After Age Verifications, But VPN Use Spikes, States Regulator
Access to adult content sites in the UK has decreased markedly since the enforcement of mandatory age verification this summer, according to the country's communications regulator. Concurrently, the adoption of specialist software designed to bypass these barriers has increased.
Sharp Drop in User Figures Following Law Implementation
The enforcement of age vetting on 25 July resulted in an swift fall in visits to popular pornography sites, including the top provider in the UK. Figures indicates that user traffic to this site in August reached 9.8 million, a decline of 1.5 million from the equivalent month in 2024.
In total, visitor numbers to the ten top adult services in the UK have now settled at a markedly decreased volume than prior to the end-of-July implementation date. Subsequent data indicates this slump in site visits continued past August.
Surge in Virtual Private Network Adoption to Bypass Checks
Reacting to the new rules, adoption of Virtual Private Networks (VPNs)—which can circumvent location-based blocks by masking internet traffic through another country—increased dramatically following 25 July.
Usage peaked 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 stated that VPN usage has since fallen back, with latest numbers at around 900,000. It added that the volume of regular VPN use is “much lower” than user numbers for adult sites.
Teenagers Responding to Damaging Online Content
Elsewhere, the watchdog's report found that about 60% of teenagers aged 11 to 17 had taken action after seeing distressing content on the internet. Actions ranged from reporting the content to the platform to muting the person who shared it.
This research was conducted before new regulations took effect that compel social media companies to stop children from accessing harmful content, such as material related to suicide and pornography. The primary way teenagers encountered such content was by looking through a social media timeline, suggesting that recommendation systems were serving inappropriate material.
Government Announce Examination of Adult Content Laws
In a related development, the government stated it would review the criminal law relating to pornography to consider whether it is effective in the modern digital age.
“The review will investigate the efficacy of the existing law in regarding making illegal, among other things, damaging portrayals of incest and any types of pornography which promote the abuse of children,” said a government official.
Advocates Call For Stricter Online Controls
Campaigners 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 appears to promote abuse by using youthful adults portraying children.
Proposed amendments to government bills seek to:
- Prohibit pornography where adults are impersonating children, often filmed in environments like children’s bedrooms.
- Broaden the crime of creating an exploitative portrayal of a child to cover material where an older performer plays the role of a child.
- Introduce stricter controls on incest-themed pornography, which studies indicates is heavily recommended by platform systems.
- Introduce additional controls on “nudification” technology, potentially making it an offence to own tools designed to create private images without permission.
- Create a new, separate regulatory body to perform inspections on pornography sites and act on reports of illegal content.
The advocates contend that these steps would ensure the protections that have existed for years in the physical world finally are extended to the online sphere.
