British Adult Content Site Visits Declines Following Identity Verifications, But VPN Use Surges, Reports Watchdog
Traffic to adult content websites in the UK has decreased markedly since the introduction of age-checking measures this summer, according to the country's communications watchdog. Simultaneously, the adoption of tools designed to circumvent these barriers has increased.
Sharp Drop in User Figures Following Rule Implementation
The introduction of age vetting on 25 July caused an immediate reduction in traffic to leading pornography sites, including the most visited 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 same period in 2024.
In total, visitor numbers to the 10 most-visited adult services in the UK have now settled at a significantly reduced level than before the end-of-July deadline. Later analysis indicates this decline in site visits continued past August.
Sharp Increase in VPN Usage to Bypass Restrictions
Reacting to the new regulations, use of Virtual Private Networks (VPNs)—which can circumvent geographic blocks by routing connections via another nation—more than doubled following 25 July.
User numbers reached a high at over 1.4 million in the middle of August, up from approximately 650,000 people prior to the verification were introduced. However, the regulator noted that VPN usage has since steadily declined, with current numbers standing at approximately 900,000. It added that the volume of daily VPN use remains “much lower” than traffic for pornography sites.
Teenagers Responding to Damaging Material
Elsewhere, the regulator's report found that about 60% of young people aged 11 to 17 had taken action after encountering damaging content on the internet. Actions included reporting the content to the platform to muting the user who posted it.
This survey was carried out before new regulations came into force that compel platforms to prevent children from seeing dangerous content, such as material related to self-harm and adult material. The primary way teenagers came across such content was by looking through a social media timeline, indicating that recommendation systems were serving inappropriate material.
Ministers Announce Review of Adult Content Laws
In a related development, the government announced it would review the legislation relating to pornography to consider whether it is adequate in the modern online world.
“The examination will look into the effectiveness of the existing law in relation to criminalising, for example, harmful portrayals of incest and any types of pornography which promote the abuse of children,” said a justice minister.
Advocates Push For Stricter Online Controls
Campaigners for tighter control of online pornography have urged the government to outlaw so-called “barely legal” material. This includes content featuring incest scenes or that encourages child sexual abuse by casting young-looking adults portraying children.
Proposed changes to government bills seek to:
- Prohibit pornography where performers are impersonating children, sometimes filmed in settings 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.
- Apply stricter controls on incest-themed pornography, which studies suggests is heavily recommended by site systems.
- Introduce further controls on “nudification” software, potentially making it an offence to possess software designed to create private images without permission.
- Establish a new, separate oversight agency to perform spot checks on adult platforms and respond to complaints of unlawful content.
The advocates argue that these steps would ensure the safeguards that have been enforced for decades in the physical world finally apply to the online sphere.
