British Pornography Site Visits Falls After Age Checks, But VPN Use Spikes, Reports Watchdog
Traffic to adult content sites in the United Kingdom has seen a notable drop since the enforcement of age-checking measures earlier this year, according to the nation's communications watchdog. At the same time, the usage of tools designed to bypass these restrictions has surged.
Immediate Drop in Visitor Figures After Law Implementation
The introduction of age vetting on 25 July led to an prompt reduction in visits to leading pornography sites, including the leading site in the UK. Figures shows that visitor numbers to this site in August stood at 9.8 million, a decline of 1.5 million from the equivalent month in 2024.
Overall, visitor numbers to the 10 most-visited pornography sites in the UK have now stabilized at a significantly reduced level than before the end-of-July deadline. Subsequent analysis suggests this slump in viewing persisted beyond August.
Surge in VPN Usage to Bypass Checks
In response to the new regulations, use of VPN software—which can get around geographic restrictions by masking connections via another nation—more than doubled following 25 July.
User numbers peaked at more than 1.4 million in the middle of August, up from approximately 650,000 users prior to the checks were introduced. However, the watchdog noted that VPN usage has since decreased, with current numbers standing at around 900,000. It clarified that the level of daily VPN use remains “much lower” than traffic for pornography services.
Teenagers Responding to Harmful Material
In other findings, the watchdog's report found that about 60% of teenagers aged 11 to 17 had taken action after seeing damaging content online. Actions included flagging the content to the site to muting the person who shared it.
This research was conducted prior to new regulations came into force that require platforms to stop children from seeing harmful content, such as material related to suicide and pornography. The primary way young people encountered such content was by looking through a platform timeline, indicating that recommendation systems were serving inappropriate material.
Government Launch Examination of Adult Content Laws
In a related development, the ministers stated it would review the criminal law relating to pornography to consider whether it is “fit for purpose” in the modern digital age.
“The review will look into the effectiveness of the current law in relation to criminalising, among other things, harmful portrayals of familial abuse and any forms of pornography which promote child sexual abuse,” stated a government official.
Campaigners Call For Stricter Online Controls
Advocates for tighter regulation 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 abuse by using youthful adults portraying children.
Proposed amendments to government bills aim to:
- Prohibit pornography where performers are mimicking children, sometimes filmed in settings like children’s bedrooms.
- Broaden the crime of creating an exploitative portrayal of a child to cover material where an older performer plays the role of a child.
- Apply stricter regulation on familial abuse pornography, which studies suggests is heavily recommended by site algorithms.
- Add further restrictions on “nudification” technology, potentially making it an illegal act to possess software designed to create non-consensual nude images.
- Create a new, independent oversight agency to perform spot checks on adult platforms and act on complaints of illegal content.
The campaigners argue that these measures would ensure the safeguards that have existed for decades in the physical world finally apply to the digital age.
