British Adult Content Traffic Falls After Age Verifications, Yet Virtual Private Network Use Spikes, States Watchdog
Traffic to adult content websites in the United Kingdom has decreased markedly since the introduction of age-checking measures earlier this year, as reported by the nation's communications regulator. At the same time, the use of specialist software designed to bypass these blocks has risen.
Immediate Drop in Visitor Figures Following Law Implementation
The enforcement of age verification on 25 July led to an immediate decline in visits to leading pornography sites, including the top provider in the UK. Figures indicates that visitor numbers to this platform in August were 9.8 million, a decline of 1.5 million compared to the equivalent month in 2024.
Overall, visitor numbers to the ten most-visited adult services in the UK have now stabilized at a markedly decreased volume than prior to the end-of-July deadline. Later data shows this downward trend in viewing persisted beyond August.
Surge in VPN Adoption to Bypass Checks
In response to the new rules, adoption of Virtual Private Networks (VPNs)—which can circumvent geographic blocks by masking connections through another nation—more than doubled following 25 July.
User numbers reached a high at over 1.4 million in mid-August, rising from around 650,000 people before the checks were introduced. Subsequently, the watchdog noted that VPN usage has afterwards steadily declined, with current figures at approximately 900,000. It added that the volume of daily VPN use remains “much lower” than traffic for adult sites.
Teenagers Taking Action to Damaging Online Content
In other findings, the watchdog's annual study found that about 60% of teenagers aged 11 to 17 had taken action after encountering harmful content online. Actions ranged from flagging the content to the platform to muting the person who posted it.
This research was conducted before new regulations took effect that compel platforms to stop children from seeing dangerous content, including material related to self-harm and pornography. The primary way young people encountered such content was by scrolling through a platform timeline, indicating that algorithms were serving harmful material.
Ministers Announce Review of Pornography Laws
In a related development, the ministers stated it would review the criminal law relating to pornography to assess whether it is adequate in the modern online world.
“The review will look into the effectiveness of the existing law in relation to making illegal, for example, damaging depictions of incest and any types of pornography which promote the abuse of children,” stated a government official.
Advocates Push For Stricter Online Controls
Advocates for better control of online pornography have called on the authorities to ban so-called “barely legal” material. This encompasses content featuring simulated familial abuse or that appears to promote child sexual abuse by casting youthful adults dressed as children.
Proposed amendments to legislation aim to:
- Ban pornography where performers are mimicking children, sometimes filmed in settings like children’s bedrooms.
- Broaden the offence of making an indecent image of a child to include material where an older performer plays the role of a child.
- Introduce tighter regulation on familial abuse pornography, which research indicates is heavily recommended by site algorithms.
- Introduce additional restrictions on “nudification” software, potentially making it an offence to possess tools designed to create non-consensual nude images.
- Create a new, independent regulatory body to perform inspections on adult platforms and act on complaints of illegal content.
The advocates argue that these measures would ensure the protections that have existed for years in the physical world finally apply to the online sphere.
