UK Pornography Traffic Falls Following Age Verifications, Yet VPN Usage Spikes, Reports Regulator
Access to pornography websites in the UK has decreased markedly after the roll-out of mandatory age verification this summer, as reported by the nation's communications watchdog. Concurrently, the adoption of tools designed to bypass these barriers has risen.
Sharp Drop in Visitor Figures Following Law Implementation
The enforcement of age vetting on 25 July caused an prompt reduction in visits to major online adult platforms, such as the most visited provider in the UK. Figures reveals that user traffic to this platform in August stood at 9.8 million, a decline of 1.5 million compared to the same period in 2024.
In total, traffic to the ten top adult services in the UK have now stabilized at a significantly reduced level than before the late July implementation date. Later analysis indicates this slump in site visits continued past August.
Sharp Increase in VPN Usage to Evade Checks
Reacting to the new regulations, use of Virtual Private Networks (VPNs)—which can get around geographic blocks by masking internet traffic through another nation—more than doubled following 25 July.
Usage reached a high at more than 1.4 million in mid-August, rising from approximately 650,000 users before the checks began. Subsequently, the regulator noted that VPN usage has afterwards fallen back, with current numbers at approximately 900,000. It added that the volume of daily VPN use remains “much lower” than traffic for pornography sites.
Teenagers Taking Action to Harmful Material
Elsewhere, the regulator's report revealed that about 60% of teenagers aged 11 to 17 had acted after encountering damaging content online. Actions ranged from reporting the material to the platform to blocking the person who posted it.
This research was carried out prior to new regulations took effect that compel platforms to prevent children from seeing dangerous content, including material related to suicide and adult material. The most common way young people came across such content was by scrolling through a social media feed, indicating that algorithms were serving inappropriate material.
Ministers Launch Examination of Pornography Laws
In a related development, the ministers announced it would review the legislation governing pornography to assess whether it is effective in the modern digital age.
“The examination will look into the efficacy of the current law in relation to making illegal, among other things, damaging portrayals of incest and any forms of pornography which encourage child sexual abuse,” said a justice minister.
Advocates Push For Stricter Online Controls
Advocates for tighter control of online pornography have called on the government to outlaw so-called “barely legal” material. This includes content featuring simulated familial abuse or that appears to promote child sexual abuse by using young-looking adults dressed as children.
Proposed changes to legislation aim to:
- Prohibit pornography where performers are impersonating children, often filmed in settings like children’s bedrooms.
- Broaden the crime of making an exploitative portrayal of a child to cover material where an older performer acts the part of a child.
- Apply stricter controls on familial abuse pornography, which studies indicates is heavily recommended by platform systems.
- Add additional controls on “nudification” technology, potentially making it an offence to own tools designed to create non-consensual nude images.
- Establish a new, separate regulatory body to conduct spot checks on pornography sites and respond to reports of unlawful content.
The campaigners contend that these measures would ensure the safeguards that have been enforced for decades in the physical world finally are extended to the digital age.
