British Adult Content Traffic Declines Following Age Verifications, But Virtual Private Network Usage Spikes, Reports Watchdog
Access to pornography websites in the United Kingdom has seen a notable drop since the introduction of age-checking measures this summer, according to the country's communications watchdog. Concurrently, the adoption of tools designed to dodge these blocks has increased.
Immediate Fall in Visitor Figures Following Rule Enforcement
The enforcement of age vetting on 25 July caused an prompt decline in visits to popular online adult platforms, including the top site in the UK. Figures shows that user traffic to this site in August stood at 9.8 million, a decrease of 1.5 million from the equivalent month in 2024.
Overall, visitor numbers to the ten most-visited pornography sites in the UK have now stabilized at a markedly decreased volume than prior to the late July deadline. Later data indicates this decline in viewing continued beyond August.
Sharp Increase in VPN Usage to Evade Checks
In response to the new rules, use of VPN software—which can get around location-based blocks by routing internet traffic via another nation—surged after 25 July.
User numbers peaked at more than 1.4 million in the middle of August, rising from approximately 650,000 users before the verification were introduced. However, the regulator noted that VPN usage has since fallen back, with current numbers at around 900,000. It added that the level of regular VPN use remains “much lower” than user numbers for pornography sites.
Young People Responding to Harmful Material
In other findings, the regulator's report found that about 60% of teenagers aged 11 to 17 had taken action after seeing harmful content on the internet. Steps taken ranged from flagging the content to the platform to muting the person who posted it.
This survey was conducted before new regulations came into force that require social media companies to stop children from seeing harmful content, including material related to suicide and pornography. The most common way teenagers came across such content was by looking through a platform feed, indicating that recommendation systems were serving harmful material.
Government Announce Examination of Adult Content Laws
Separately, the government stated it would examine the criminal law relating to pornography to assess whether it is adequate in the ever-developing digital age.
“The examination will investigate the efficacy of the existing law in regarding making illegal, among other things, harmful portrayals of incest and any forms of pornography which encourage the abuse of children,” stated a government official.
Advocates Push For Stricter Digital Regulations
Advocates for better control of adult content have urged the authorities to outlaw so-called “barely legal” material. This encompasses content featuring incest scenes or that appears to promote abuse by casting youthful adults dressed as children.
Proposed changes to legislation seek to:
- Ban pornography where adults are mimicking children, sometimes recorded in settings like children’s bedrooms.
- Broaden the crime of creating an indecent image of a child to include material where an older performer plays the role of a child.
- Introduce stricter controls on incest-themed pornography, which research suggests is often promoted by platform algorithms.
- Introduce additional restrictions on “nudification” software, potentially making it an offence to own tools designed to generate non-consensual nude images.
- Establish a new, separate regulatory body to conduct spot checks on adult platforms and respond to complaints of unlawful content.
The advocates argue that these measures would ensure the safeguards that have existed for years in the physical world finally are extended to the digital age.
