British Adult Content Site Visits Falls After Age Verifications, Yet Virtual Private Network Usage Surges, Reports Regulator
Access to pornography platforms in the UK has fallen significantly after the enforcement of mandatory age verification earlier this year, according to the country's communications regulator. At the same time, the adoption of specialist software designed to dodge these blocks has increased.
Sharp Fall in Visitor Figures After Law Implementation
The enforcement of age verification on 25 July caused an swift decline in visits to leading online adult platforms, including the most visited provider in the UK. Data reveals that visitor numbers to this site in August stood at 9.8 million, a decrease of 1.5 million compared to the same period in 2024.
In total, traffic to the ten most-visited adult services in the UK have now settled at a “lower level” than prior to the late July deadline. Subsequent data suggests this slump in site visits continued past August.
Surge in Virtual Private Network Usage to Evade Checks
In response to the new regulations, use of Virtual Private Networks (VPNs)—which can bypass location-based restrictions by masking internet traffic through another nation—surged following 25 July.
Usage peaked at more than 1.4 million in the middle of August, up from around 650,000 users prior to the checks were introduced. Subsequently, the regulator noted that VPN usage has afterwards fallen back, with current numbers at approximately 900,000. It added that the volume of daily VPN use is “much lower” than user numbers for pornography services.
Teenagers Responding to Damaging Online Content
Elsewhere, the watchdog's annual study found that about 60% of teenagers aged 11 to 17 had acted after encountering harmful content on the internet. Steps taken included flagging the content to the site to blocking the user who posted it.
This survey was carried out before new regulations took effect that compel platforms to prevent children from accessing dangerous content, including material related to suicide and adult material. The most common way young people came across such content was by scrolling through a social media feed, suggesting that algorithms were showing harmful material.
Ministers Announce Examination of Adult Content Laws
In a related development, the ministers announced it would examine the legislation governing pornography to assess whether it is adequate in the modern digital age.
“The examination will look into the efficacy of the current law in regarding making illegal, among other things, damaging portrayals of incest and any types of pornography which encourage the abuse of children,” stated a government official.
Advocates Call For Stricter Digital Regulations
Advocates for better regulation of online pornography have called on the authorities to ban so-called “barely legal” material. This encompasses content featuring incest scenes or that appears to promote child sexual abuse by casting young-looking adults portraying children.
Suggested changes to government bills aim to:
- Ban pornography where performers are mimicking children, sometimes recorded in environments like children’s bedrooms.
- Broaden the crime of creating an indecent image of a child to include material where an older performer plays the role of a child.
- Apply tighter regulation on incest-themed pornography, which studies indicates is heavily recommended by platform systems.
- Introduce further controls on “nudification” technology, potentially making it an offence to own software designed to generate private images without permission.
- Create a new, independent regulatory body to perform inspections on pornography sites and act on complaints of unlawful content.
The campaigners argue that these steps would ensure the protections that have existed for decades offline finally are extended to the digital age.