British Pornography Traffic Falls After Identity Verifications, Yet VPN Usage Spikes, States Regulator
Visitor numbers to pornography sites in the United Kingdom has decreased markedly after the introduction of mandatory age verification earlier this year, according to the country's communications authority. Simultaneously, the use of specialist software designed to dodge these blocks has surged.
Immediate Drop in Visitor Numbers After Rule Enforcement
The enforcement of age verification on 25 July caused an swift decline in visits to major pornography sites, including the most visited provider in the UK. Figures reveals that user traffic to this platform in August stood at 9.8 million, a decrease of 1.5 million compared to the equivalent month in 2024.
Overall, traffic to the 10 top pornography sites in the UK have now settled at a markedly decreased volume than before the end-of-July deadline. Later analysis indicates this decline in viewing persisted past August.
Surge in Virtual Private Network Usage to Evade Checks
Reacting to the new regulations, use of VPN software—which can bypass geographic blocks by masking connections via another nation—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 were introduced. However, the regulator stated that VPN usage has since fallen back, with latest numbers at approximately 900,000. It added that the level of regular VPN use is “much lower” than user numbers for adult services.
Young People Responding to Damaging Material
Elsewhere, the watchdog's report revealed that about 60% of teenagers aged 11 to 17 had taken action after seeing harmful content on the internet. Actions included reporting the content to the platform to blocking the person who posted it.
This research was conducted prior to new rules came into force that compel social media companies to prevent children from seeing dangerous content, such as material related to self-harm and adult material. The primary way young people came across such content was by looking through a platform timeline, indicating that recommendation systems were serving harmful material.
Government Announce Review of Adult Content Legislation
Separately, the ministers stated it would examine the criminal law governing pornography to consider whether it is adequate in the modern online world.
“The examination will look into the efficacy of the current law in relation to criminalising, for example, harmful depictions of familial abuse and any types of pornography which promote child sexual abuse,” said a justice minister.
Campaigners Call For Stricter Online Regulations
Campaigners for tighter regulation of adult content have called on the authorities to ban so-called “barely legal” material. This includes content featuring simulated familial abuse or that appears to promote child sexual abuse by using youthful performers portraying children.
Proposed changes to government bills aim to:
- Ban pornography where adults are impersonating children, sometimes filmed in environments like children’s bedrooms.
- Broaden the offence of making an exploitative portrayal of a child to include material where an adult plays the role of a child.
- Apply tighter regulation on incest-themed pornography, which studies indicates is often promoted by platform systems.
- Add further controls on “nudification” software, potentially making it an illegal act to own tools designed to generate private images without permission.
- Create a new, separate oversight agency to perform inspections on pornography sites and act on reports of illegal content.
The advocates contend that these measures would ensure the safeguards that have existed for decades offline finally are extended to the digital age.
