British Adult Content Site Visits Declines Following Identity Checks, Yet Virtual Private Network Usage Spikes, Reports Watchdog
Access to pornography sites in the United Kingdom has seen a notable drop since the enforcement of age-checking measures earlier this year, as reported by the country's communications authority. Concurrently, the usage of specialist software designed to bypass these blocks has surged.
Immediate Drop in Visitor Numbers After Law Implementation
The enforcement of age verification on 25 July caused an prompt reduction in visits to popular pornography sites, including the most visited provider in the UK. Data indicates that visitor numbers to this platform in August were 9.8 million, a decrease of 1.5 million from the same period in 2024.
In total, visitor numbers to the ten top pornography sites in the UK have now settled at a significantly reduced level than prior to the end-of-July deadline. Subsequent analysis indicates this decline in viewing continued past August.
Sharp Increase in VPN Usage to Bypass Restrictions
In response to the new regulations, use of VPN software—which can get around geographic restrictions by masking connections via another country—more than doubled after 25 July.
User numbers reached a high at over 1.4 million in the middle of August, up from approximately 650,000 users before the checks were introduced. Subsequently, the watchdog stated that VPN usage has afterwards fallen back, with latest figures at approximately 900,000. It added that the volume of regular VPN use remains “much lower” than user numbers for pornography services.
Young People Taking Action to Damaging Material
In other findings, the watchdog's annual study revealed that about 60% of teenagers aged 11 to 17 had taken action after encountering harmful content online. Steps taken ranged from reporting the content to the platform to blocking the user who posted it.
This research was carried out prior to new regulations came into force that require platforms to stop children from seeing dangerous content, such as material related to suicide and adult material. The most common way young people came across such content was by scrolling through a platform timeline, indicating that algorithms were showing harmful material.
Ministers Launch Review of Pornography Laws
In a related development, the government stated it would review the legislation relating to pornography to assess whether it is effective in the modern digital age.
“The review will look into the efficacy of the current law in relation to making illegal, among other things, damaging portrayals of incest and any types of pornography which promote child sexual abuse,” stated a justice minister.
Advocates Push For Tighter Digital Regulations
Campaigners for tighter regulation of adult content have called on the government to outlaw so-called “barely legal” material. This includes content featuring simulated familial abuse or that encourages child sexual abuse by using youthful performers dressed as children.
Proposed amendments to government bills aim to:
- Ban 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 cover material where an older performer acts the part of a child.
- Introduce stricter regulation on familial abuse pornography, which research indicates is often promoted by site algorithms.
- Add additional restrictions on “nudification” technology, potentially making it an offence to own tools designed to create private images without permission.
- Create a new, independent oversight agency to conduct inspections on pornography sites and act on complaints of unlawful content.
The advocates contend that these measures would ensure the safeguards that have been enforced for decades offline finally are extended to the digital age.
