UK Pornography Traffic Declines After Age Checks, Yet Virtual Private Network Use Spikes, States Regulator
Traffic to adult content websites in the United Kingdom has decreased markedly since the introduction of age-checking measures this summer, according to the nation's communications regulator. Concurrently, the adoption of tools designed to circumvent these blocks has surged.
Immediate Drop in Visitor Numbers After Law Implementation
The introduction of age vetting on 25 July led to an prompt fall in visits to popular pornography sites, such as the most visited provider in the UK. Figures shows that visitor numbers to this platform in August reached 9.8 million, a decrease of 1.5 million compared to the equivalent month in 2024.
In total, visitor numbers to the ten most-visited adult services in the UK have now settled at a markedly decreased volume than before the late July deadline. Subsequent analysis indicates this slump in viewing continued beyond August.
Sharp Increase in VPN Adoption to Bypass Restrictions
In response to the new rules, use of Virtual Private Networks (VPNs)—which can circumvent location-based restrictions by masking internet traffic via another country—surged after 25 July.
Usage reached a high at over 1.4 million in mid-August, rising from approximately 650,000 users before the checks were introduced. Subsequently, the watchdog noted that VPN usage has since fallen back, with current numbers at around 900,000. It added that the level of daily VPN use remains “much lower” than user numbers for adult services.
Teenagers Taking Action to Damaging Material
In other findings, the watchdog's annual study found that about 60% of young people aged 11 to 17 had acted after encountering distressing content on the internet. Steps taken included reporting the material to the platform to muting the user who shared it.
This research was carried out prior to new regulations took effect that require platforms to stop children from seeing dangerous content, such as material related to self-harm and pornography. The most common way teenagers encountered such content was by looking through a platform feed, suggesting that recommendation systems were showing inappropriate material.
Ministers Announce Examination of Adult Content Legislation
Separately, the ministers announced it would examine the legislation relating to pornography to assess whether it is effective in the ever-developing digital age.
“The review will look into the efficacy of the existing law in relation to criminalising, for example, damaging depictions of incest and any types of pornography which promote child sexual abuse,” said a government official.
Campaigners Push For Stricter Digital Regulations
Advocates for tighter control of online pornography have urged the government to ban so-called “barely legal” material. This includes content featuring incest scenes or that appears to promote child sexual abuse by casting young-looking adults portraying children.
Suggested changes to legislation seek to:
- Ban pornography where performers are impersonating children, sometimes recorded in settings like children’s bedrooms.
- Extend the offence of making an exploitative portrayal of a child to include material where an adult acts the part of a child.
- Apply tighter controls on incest-themed pornography, which research indicates is heavily recommended by platform algorithms.
- Add further controls on “nudification” software, potentially making it an offence to own software designed to generate non-consensual nude images.
- Create a new, separate regulatory body to conduct inspections on adult platforms and respond to complaints of illegal content.
The advocates argue that these steps would ensure the protections that have been enforced for years in the physical world finally apply to the online sphere.
