British Pornography Site Visits Falls Following Age Verifications, Yet VPN Use Spikes, Reports Watchdog
Visitor numbers to adult content platforms in the United Kingdom has decreased markedly after the introduction of mandatory age verification earlier this year, according to the nation's communications authority. Simultaneously, the use of specialist software designed to bypass these barriers has risen.
Sharp Drop in Visitor Numbers After Law Enforcement
The enforcement of age verification on 25 July caused an prompt decline in visits to major pornography sites, including the top provider in the UK. Data reveals that visitor numbers to this site in August reached 9.8 million, a drop of 1.5 million from the equivalent month in 2024.
In total, visitor numbers to the 10 most-visited pornography sites in the UK have now settled at a significantly reduced level than prior to the end-of-July implementation date. Later analysis indicates this slump in viewing persisted beyond August.
Sharp Increase in VPN Usage to Bypass Restrictions
In response to the new regulations, use of Virtual Private Networks (VPNs)—which can circumvent location-based blocks by routing internet traffic through another country—increased dramatically after 25 July.
Usage peaked at more than 1.4 million in the middle of August, up from approximately 650,000 users prior to the verification began. Subsequently, the watchdog stated that VPN usage has afterwards fallen back, with latest numbers standing at approximately 900,000. It added that the volume of regular VPN use remains “much lower” than user numbers for pornography services.
Young People Taking Action to Harmful Material
Elsewhere, the regulator's annual study revealed that about 60% of teenagers aged 11 to 17 had taken action after seeing distressing content on the internet. Steps taken included flagging the material to the platform to muting the person who posted it.
This research was carried out prior to new rules came into force that require social media companies to prevent children from seeing harmful content, including material related to self-harm and pornography. The most common way young people came across such content was by looking through a platform feed, indicating that recommendation systems were serving harmful material.
Government Announce Review of Pornography Legislation
In a related development, the government announced it would examine the legislation governing pornography to consider whether it is effective in the modern online world.
“The review will investigate the efficacy of the existing law in regarding criminalising, for example, damaging depictions of incest and any forms of pornography which promote child sexual abuse,” stated a government official.
Advocates Call For Tighter Online Controls
Advocates for tighter regulation of adult content have urged the authorities to outlaw so-called “barely legal” material. This includes content featuring simulated familial abuse or that encourages child sexual abuse by using youthful adults portraying children.
Proposed changes to legislation aim to:
- Ban pornography where adults are mimicking children, often recorded 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.
- Apply stricter regulation 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 own software designed to generate private images without permission.
- Create a new, independent oversight agency to perform inspections on pornography sites and respond to complaints of unlawful content.
The campaigners argue that these measures would ensure the protections that have existed for decades offline finally are extended to the online sphere.
