UK Pornography Traffic Falls After Age Checks, But Virtual Private Network Usage Surges, Reports Watchdog
Access to adult content platforms in the United Kingdom has seen a notable drop since the roll-out of age-checking measures this summer, according to the country's communications authority. At the same time, the usage of tools designed to bypass these restrictions has surged.
Immediate Fall in Visitor Numbers Following Law Implementation
The enforcement of age vetting on 25 July caused an immediate fall in visits to leading pornography sites, including the leading provider in the UK. Figures indicates that user traffic to this platform in August were 9.8 million, a decline of 1.5 million from the same period in 2024.
Overall, traffic to the 10 top adult services in the UK have now settled at a “lower level” than prior to the end-of-July deadline. Later analysis suggests this decline in site visits persisted past August.
Sharp Increase in Virtual Private Network Usage to Evade Restrictions
Reacting to the new rules, use of VPN software—which can get around location-based restrictions by masking connections via another nation—more than doubled after 25 July.
Usage reached a high at more than 1.4 million in the middle of August, rising from around 650,000 people prior to the checks began. However, the regulator noted that VPN usage has since decreased, with current numbers at approximately 900,000. It added that the volume of daily VPN use is “much lower” than traffic for adult sites.
Teenagers Taking Action to Damaging Online Content
In other findings, the watchdog's report found that about 60% of young people aged 11 to 17 had taken action after encountering harmful content online. Actions ranged from flagging the content to the site to blocking the person who posted it.
This research was conducted before new regulations came into force that compel social media companies to prevent children from accessing dangerous content, including material related to self-harm and pornography. The most common way teenagers encountered such content was by scrolling through a platform timeline, indicating that recommendation systems were serving inappropriate material.
Ministers Launch Review of Pornography Legislation
Separately, the government stated it would review the criminal law relating to pornography to assess whether it is adequate in the ever-developing digital age.
“The examination will look into the efficacy of the current law in regarding making illegal, for example, harmful depictions of incest and any forms of pornography which promote child sexual abuse,” said a justice minister.
Campaigners Call For Tighter Digital Controls
Advocates for better control of online pornography have called on the government to ban so-called “barely legal” material. This includes content featuring simulated familial abuse or that appears to promote child sexual abuse by using young-looking performers dressed as children.
Proposed changes to legislation seek to:
- Ban pornography where adults are impersonating children, sometimes recorded in environments like children’s bedrooms.
- Broaden the offence of making an exploitative portrayal of a child to include material where an adult acts the part of a child.
- Apply tighter regulation on familial abuse pornography, which research suggests is often promoted by site algorithms.
- Introduce additional restrictions on “nudification” technology, potentially making it an offence to possess software designed to generate private images without permission.
- Establish a new, independent oversight agency to perform spot checks on pornography sites and respond to reports of unlawful content.
The advocates contend that these measures would ensure the protections that have existed for decades offline finally are extended to the digital age.
