UK Pornography Site Visits Declines Following Identity Verifications, But VPN Usage Spikes, States Regulator
Visitor numbers to adult content platforms in the United Kingdom has decreased markedly since the roll-out of mandatory age verification earlier this year, as reported by the nation's communications regulator. Simultaneously, the adoption of tools designed to bypass these barriers has increased.
Sharp Drop in User Figures Following Law Implementation
The introduction of age verification on 25 July led to an immediate fall in traffic to major online adult platforms, such as the most visited site in the UK. Data reveals that user traffic to this platform in August were 9.8 million, a decline of 1.5 million from the equivalent month in 2024.
Overall, visitor numbers to the ten most-visited adult services in the UK have now stabilized at a significantly reduced level than before the end-of-July implementation date. Subsequent data suggests this slump in site visits continued beyond August.
Sharp Increase in Virtual Private Network Usage to Bypass Restrictions
In response to the new rules, use of VPN software—which can circumvent geographic restrictions by masking connections through another country—surged following 25 July.
User numbers peaked at more than 1.4 million in mid-August, rising from around 650,000 users before the verification began. Subsequently, the regulator stated that VPN usage has afterwards fallen back, with latest numbers standing at approximately 900,000. It clarified that the level of daily VPN use is “much lower” than user numbers for adult services.
Teenagers Responding to Harmful Online Content
In other findings, the watchdog's annual study found that about 60% of young people aged 11 to 17 had acted after seeing damaging content on the internet. Steps taken included reporting the content to the site to muting the user who posted it.
This survey was conducted prior to new regulations came into force that require platforms to stop 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 social media timeline, suggesting that algorithms were showing inappropriate material.
Government Announce Examination of Adult Content Laws
Separately, the government announced it would review the criminal law relating to pornography to consider whether it is “fit for purpose” in the modern online world.
“The review will look into the effectiveness of the current law in regarding making illegal, among other things, harmful depictions of incest and any types of pornography which promote the abuse of children,” stated a justice minister.
Advocates Push For Stricter Digital Regulations
Campaigners for better control of adult content have called on the government to ban so-called “barely legal” material. This encompasses content featuring incest scenes or that appears to promote abuse by casting young-looking adults dressed as children.
Suggested changes to legislation seek to:
- Ban pornography where adults are mimicking children, often recorded in settings like children’s bedrooms.
- Broaden the offence of creating an indecent image of a child to cover material where an adult plays the role of a child.
- Introduce tighter controls on familial abuse pornography, which research indicates is often promoted by platform systems.
- Introduce further controls on “nudification” software, potentially making it an offence to own software designed to generate private images without permission.
- Establish a new, separate oversight agency to perform spot checks on adult platforms and respond to complaints of illegal content.
The campaigners argue that these measures would ensure the safeguards that have existed for decades offline finally are extended to the online sphere.
