British Pornography Site Visits Declines Following Identity Checks, But Virtual Private Network Usage Surges, States Watchdog
Access to adult content sites in the UK has fallen significantly since the enforcement of age-checking measures earlier this year, as reported by the country's communications regulator. Concurrently, the usage of specialist software designed to circumvent these restrictions has surged.
Sharp Drop in User Figures After Law Enforcement
The enforcement of age verification on 25 July led to an swift decline in traffic to major online adult platforms, including the top site in the UK. Data shows that user traffic to this site in August stood at 9.8 million, a drop of 1.5 million from the same period in 2024.
Overall, traffic to the ten top adult services in the UK have now stabilized at a markedly decreased volume than before the end-of-July implementation date. Later analysis suggests this decline in viewing continued beyond August.
Sharp Increase in Virtual Private Network Adoption to Evade Restrictions
Reacting to the new regulations, adoption of Virtual Private Networks (VPNs)—which can bypass geographic restrictions by routing connections via another country—surged after 25 July.
User numbers peaked at more than 1.4 million in the middle of August, up from approximately 650,000 people before the verification began. However, the watchdog stated that VPN usage has afterwards decreased, with current figures standing at around 900,000. It clarified that the volume of regular VPN use remains “much lower” than traffic for adult sites.
Young People Responding to Damaging Online Content
In other findings, the regulator's report found that about 60% of teenagers aged 11 to 17 had acted after encountering distressing content online. Steps taken included reporting the content to the platform to blocking the user who posted it.
This research was conducted before new regulations came into force that require social media companies to stop children from accessing dangerous content, such as material related to self-harm and adult material. The primary way teenagers came across such content was by looking through a social media feed, indicating that recommendation systems were serving harmful material.
Government Launch Review of Adult Content Laws
Separately, the government stated it would examine the legislation relating to pornography to assess whether it is “fit for purpose” in the ever-developing digital age.
“The examination will investigate the effectiveness of the current law in relation to making illegal, among other things, harmful depictions of familial abuse and any types of pornography which encourage child sexual abuse,” said a justice minister.
Campaigners Call For Stricter Digital Controls
Advocates for tighter control of adult content have urged the authorities to ban so-called “barely legal” material. This includes content featuring simulated familial abuse or that appears to promote abuse by casting youthful adults portraying children.
Suggested amendments to legislation aim to:
- Prohibit pornography where performers are mimicking children, often filmed in environments like children’s bedrooms.
- Extend the offence of making an exploitative portrayal of a child to cover material where an adult acts the part of a child.
- Introduce tighter controls on familial abuse pornography, which studies indicates is often promoted by platform systems.
- Introduce additional restrictions on “nudification” software, potentially making it an offence to possess tools designed to create non-consensual nude images.
- Establish a new, separate regulatory body to conduct spot checks on adult platforms and respond to reports of unlawful content.
The campaigners contend that these measures would ensure the protections that have been enforced for decades offline finally apply to the digital age.
