British Adult Content Site Visits Declines After Age Verifications, But VPN Use Spikes, Reports Watchdog
Visitor numbers to adult content platforms in the UK has seen a notable drop after the introduction of age-checking measures this summer, as reported by the country's communications regulator. Simultaneously, the use of tools designed to circumvent these blocks has increased.
Immediate Fall in Visitor Figures After Rule Implementation
The introduction of age vetting on 25 July resulted in an immediate decline in traffic to leading pornography sites, such as the leading site in the UK. Figures shows that user traffic to this platform in August stood at 9.8 million, a decrease of 1.5 million compared to the equivalent month in 2024.
In total, visitor numbers to the 10 top adult services in the UK have now stabilized at a significantly reduced level than prior to the late July implementation date. Later analysis indicates this downward trend in site visits persisted past August.
Surge in VPN Usage to Evade Restrictions
In response to the new regulations, use of Virtual Private Networks (VPNs)—which can bypass geographic restrictions by masking internet traffic through another nation—more than doubled after 25 July.
Usage reached a high at more than 1.4 million in mid-August, up from around 650,000 users prior to the checks began. Subsequently, the watchdog stated that VPN usage has afterwards steadily declined, with latest figures standing at approximately 900,000. It added that the volume of daily VPN use remains “much lower” than traffic for adult sites.
Teenagers Responding to Damaging Online Content
Elsewhere, the watchdog's report found that about 60% of teenagers aged 11 to 17 had acted after encountering distressing content online. Actions included flagging the material to the platform to muting the user who posted it.
This research was carried out before new regulations came into force that compel platforms to stop children from seeing harmful content, including material related to self-harm and pornography. The most common way teenagers encountered such content was by scrolling through a social media timeline, suggesting that recommendation systems were showing harmful material.
Government Launch Review of Adult Content Legislation
In a related development, the ministers announced it would examine the legislation governing pornography to assess whether it is “fit for purpose” in the modern digital age.
“The review will investigate the effectiveness of the current law in regarding making illegal, among other things, harmful portrayals of familial abuse and any forms of pornography which encourage child sexual abuse,” stated a justice minister.
Campaigners Push For Stricter Digital Regulations
Campaigners for tighter regulation of online pornography have called on the government to ban so-called “barely legal” material. This includes content featuring simulated familial abuse or that encourages abuse by using young-looking performers dressed as children.
Suggested amendments to legislation aim to:
- Prohibit pornography where performers are impersonating children, sometimes filmed in environments like children’s bedrooms.
- Broaden the offence of creating an indecent image of a child to cover material where an adult acts the part of a child.
- Introduce stricter regulation on incest-themed pornography, which studies suggests is heavily recommended by site systems.
- Introduce further controls on “nudification” software, potentially making it an illegal act to possess tools designed to generate private images without permission.
- Establish a new, separate oversight agency to conduct spot checks on pornography sites and respond to complaints of unlawful content.
The campaigners contend that these steps would ensure the protections that have existed for decades in the physical world finally are extended to the digital age.
