British Pornography Site Visits Falls After Age Checks, Yet VPN Use Surges, Reports Regulator
Traffic to adult content platforms in the UK has decreased markedly after the roll-out of age-checking measures earlier this year, as reported by the nation's communications watchdog. Simultaneously, the usage of tools designed to circumvent these barriers has surged.
Immediate Fall in Visitor Numbers Following Law Enforcement
The enforcement of age vetting on 25 July led to an immediate fall in traffic to leading online adult platforms, including the most visited site in the UK. Data indicates that visitor numbers to this site in August reached 9.8 million, a drop of 1.5 million compared to the same period in 2024.
In total, traffic to the 10 top pornography sites in the UK have now stabilized at a significantly reduced level than prior to the late July deadline. Subsequent data indicates this downward trend in viewing persisted beyond August.
Sharp Increase in VPN Adoption to Bypass Checks
Reacting to the new regulations, adoption of VPN software—which can get around geographic restrictions by routing internet traffic via another country—more than doubled following 25 July.
Usage peaked at over 1.4 million in the middle of August, up from around 650,000 users prior to the checks were introduced. However, the regulator noted that VPN usage has since steadily declined, with latest figures at approximately 900,000. It clarified that the volume of daily VPN use remains “much lower” than traffic for adult sites.
Young People Taking Action to Damaging Material
In other findings, the watchdog's report revealed that about 60% of young people aged 11 to 17 had acted after seeing damaging content online. Actions included flagging the content to the site to blocking the user who shared it.
This survey was conducted prior to new rules came into force that compel social media companies to prevent children from seeing dangerous content, including material related to self-harm and adult material. The primary way teenagers encountered such content was by looking through a platform feed, suggesting that algorithms were serving harmful material.
Government Launch Review of Adult Content Laws
Separately, the ministers announced it would examine the legislation relating to pornography to assess whether it is adequate in the ever-developing online world.
“The examination will investigate the efficacy of the current law in regarding criminalising, for example, damaging depictions of familial abuse and any forms of pornography which encourage the abuse of children,” stated a government official.
Advocates Push For Tighter Online Controls
Campaigners for tighter regulation of adult content have called on the government to outlaw so-called “barely legal” material. This encompasses content featuring simulated familial abuse or that encourages abuse by casting youthful performers dressed as children.
Proposed changes to legislation seek to:
- Prohibit pornography where adults are impersonating children, often recorded in environments like children’s bedrooms.
- Extend the crime of creating an exploitative portrayal of a child to include material where an older performer plays the role of a child.
- Introduce tighter regulation on familial abuse pornography, which studies suggests is heavily recommended by platform algorithms.
- Introduce further restrictions on “nudification” software, potentially making it an illegal act to possess software designed to generate private images without permission.
- Create a new, independent oversight agency to perform spot checks on adult platforms and act on complaints of unlawful content.
The advocates argue that these steps would ensure the protections that have existed for decades in the physical world finally apply to the digital age.
