UK Pornography Site Visits Declines After Identity Checks, Yet VPN Use Spikes, Reports Regulator
Visitor numbers to pornography websites in the United Kingdom has seen a notable drop after the enforcement of age-checking measures this summer, according to the country's communications authority. Concurrently, the adoption of specialist software designed to dodge these blocks has increased.
Sharp Drop in Visitor Numbers Following Law Enforcement
The enforcement of age vetting on 25 July caused an immediate fall in visits to major pornography sites, including the top site in the UK. Data indicates that visitor numbers to this site in August were 9.8 million, a drop of 1.5 million from the equivalent month in 2024.
Overall, visitor numbers to the 10 top pornography sites in the UK have now settled at a “lower level” than prior to the end-of-July deadline. Subsequent data shows this slump in site visits continued beyond August.
Surge in Virtual Private Network Usage to Evade Checks
Reacting to the new rules, use of Virtual Private Networks (VPNs)—which can get around location-based blocks by routing connections through another country—more than doubled following 25 July.
Usage peaked at more than 1.4 million in the middle of August, rising from around 650,000 people prior to the verification began. However, the watchdog noted that VPN usage has since decreased, with current numbers at approximately 900,000. It clarified that the level of regular VPN use is “much lower” than traffic for adult services.
Young People Responding to Harmful Online Content
Elsewhere, the watchdog's report found that about 60% of teenagers aged 11 to 17 had acted after encountering damaging content online. Steps taken included flagging the material to the platform to blocking the user who shared it.
This survey was conducted prior to new regulations came into force that require social media companies to stop children from seeing dangerous content, including material related to self-harm and adult material. The primary way teenagers encountered such content was by scrolling through a platform timeline, suggesting that algorithms were serving harmful material.
Ministers Announce Review of Pornography Laws
Separately, the government announced it would examine the legislation relating to pornography to consider whether it is adequate in the modern digital age.
“The review will look into the efficacy of the existing law in relation to making illegal, among other things, harmful portrayals of incest and any forms of pornography which encourage child sexual abuse,” said a government official.
Campaigners Call For Tighter Digital Controls
Advocates for better control of online pornography have called on the authorities to ban so-called “barely legal” material. This includes content featuring simulated familial abuse or that appears to promote abuse by using young-looking adults dressed as children.
Proposed changes to legislation aim to:
- Prohibit pornography where performers are impersonating children, often filmed in settings like children’s bedrooms.
- Broaden the offence of creating an exploitative portrayal of a child to include material where an adult acts the part of a child.
- Introduce stricter regulation on familial abuse pornography, which studies suggests is often promoted by site algorithms.
- Introduce further controls on “nudification” technology, potentially making it an offence to own software designed to generate non-consensual nude images.
- Establish a new, separate oversight agency to perform inspections on adult platforms and respond to complaints of illegal content.
The campaigners contend that these steps would ensure the protections that have existed for years offline finally are extended to the digital age.
