British Pornography Traffic Falls After Identity Checks, Yet Virtual Private Network Use Surges, Reports Regulator
Traffic to adult content websites in the United Kingdom has fallen significantly since the roll-out of age-checking measures earlier this year, according to the nation's communications regulator. Concurrently, the use of specialist software designed to circumvent these blocks has surged.
Immediate Drop in Visitor Figures After Law Enforcement
The introduction of age vetting on 25 July led to an immediate decline in visits to popular pornography sites, such as the leading site in the UK. Figures shows that user traffic to this platform in August stood at 9.8 million, a drop of 1.5 million from the equivalent month in 2024.
Overall, visitor numbers to the ten top adult services in the UK have now settled at a “lower level” than prior to the end-of-July implementation date. Subsequent analysis shows this slump in site visits persisted beyond August.
Sharp Increase in Virtual Private Network Usage to Bypass Restrictions
Reacting to the new rules, use of Virtual Private Networks (VPNs)—which can circumvent location-based blocks by routing connections via another nation—more than doubled after 25 July.
Usage reached a high at over 1.4 million in mid-August, rising from around 650,000 people prior to the verification were introduced. Subsequently, the watchdog noted that VPN usage has since fallen back, with latest figures at around 900,000. It clarified that the level of regular VPN use is “much lower” than traffic for adult sites.
Young People Responding to Harmful Online Content
In other findings, the watchdog's report revealed that about 60% of teenagers aged 11 to 17 had taken action after encountering distressing content online. Steps taken ranged from flagging the content to the site to blocking the person who shared it.
This research was carried out before new regulations came into force that compel social media companies to stop children from accessing dangerous content, including material related to suicide and pornography. The most common way teenagers encountered such content was by scrolling through a social media timeline, suggesting that recommendation systems were serving harmful material.
Ministers Announce Review of Pornography Legislation
In a related development, the ministers stated it would examine the criminal law relating to pornography to assess whether it is “fit for purpose” in the ever-developing digital age.
“The examination will look into the effectiveness of the existing law in regarding making illegal, among other things, harmful portrayals of incest and any forms of pornography which promote the abuse of children,” stated a government official.
Advocates Call For Tighter Digital Regulations
Advocates for better regulation 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 using young-looking performers portraying children.
Proposed changes to government bills aim to:
- Ban pornography where adults are mimicking children, often filmed in environments like children’s bedrooms.
- Extend the offence of creating an indecent image of a child to include material where an older performer plays the role of a child.
- Apply tighter controls on incest-themed pornography, which research suggests is heavily recommended by platform algorithms.
- Add further controls on “nudification” technology, potentially making it an illegal act to possess tools designed to create private images without permission.
- Create a new, separate regulatory body to conduct spot checks on pornography sites and respond to complaints of unlawful content.
The campaigners contend that these steps would ensure the safeguards that have been enforced for decades offline finally are extended to the digital age.
