UK Pornography Traffic Falls After Age Checks, Yet VPN Usage Surges, States Regulator
Visitor numbers to pornography websites in the United Kingdom has seen a notable drop since the roll-out of age-checking measures earlier this year, as reported by the country's communications regulator. At the same time, the usage of specialist software designed to circumvent these barriers has surged.
Sharp Drop in Visitor Numbers After Rule Enforcement
The introduction of age vetting on 25 July led to an swift decline in traffic to leading online adult platforms, including the most visited site in the UK. Data indicates that user traffic to this site in August reached 9.8 million, a drop of 1.5 million compared to the equivalent month in 2024.
In total, visitor numbers to the 10 most-visited adult services in the UK have now stabilized at a significantly reduced level than prior to the late July deadline. Later data shows this downward trend in viewing continued past August.
Surge in VPN Usage to Evade Checks
In response to the new regulations, adoption of VPN software—which can get around location-based blocks by masking internet traffic through another nation—surged following 25 July.
Usage peaked at more than 1.4 million in the middle of August, rising from around 650,000 people before the checks began. However, the regulator stated that VPN usage has afterwards fallen back, with latest numbers standing at around 900,000. It added that the level of regular VPN use is “much lower” than traffic for pornography sites.
Young People Taking Action to Harmful Material
Elsewhere, the regulator's annual study revealed that about 60% of young people aged 11 to 17 had taken action after seeing harmful content on the internet. Actions ranged from flagging the material to the platform to blocking the user who posted it.
This research was carried out before new rules took effect that require platforms to stop children from accessing dangerous content, including material related to self-harm and pornography. The primary way teenagers came across such content was by scrolling through a platform timeline, indicating that recommendation systems were showing harmful material.
Government Launch Examination of Adult Content Legislation
In a related development, the government announced it would review the legislation relating to pornography to consider whether it is effective in the modern digital age.
“The examination will look into the efficacy of the existing law in relation to criminalising, for example, damaging depictions of incest and any forms of pornography which promote the abuse of children,” said a justice minister.
Campaigners Push For Stricter Online Controls
Advocates for tighter control of online pornography have urged the government to ban so-called “barely legal” material. This includes content featuring simulated familial abuse or that encourages child sexual abuse by using youthful adults dressed as children.
Proposed changes to legislation seek to:
- Prohibit pornography where performers are mimicking children, often recorded in environments like children’s bedrooms.
- Broaden the crime of making an exploitative portrayal of a child to cover material where an adult plays the role of a child.
- Introduce tighter controls on familial abuse pornography, which studies indicates is heavily recommended by site systems.
- Introduce additional controls on “nudification” technology, potentially making it an offence to own tools designed to generate private images without permission.
- Create a new, independent oversight agency to perform spot checks on adult platforms and respond to reports of unlawful content.
The campaigners contend that these steps would ensure the safeguards that have been enforced for decades in the physical world finally apply to the digital age.
