British Pornography Traffic Declines After Age Checks, But Virtual Private Network Use Spikes, States Watchdog

Traffic to adult content sites in the United Kingdom has seen a notable drop after the enforcement of mandatory age verification earlier this year, as reported by the country's communications regulator. Concurrently, the use of tools designed to bypass these barriers has risen.

Sharp Fall in Visitor Numbers Following Law Implementation

The enforcement of age vetting on 25 July caused an swift fall in visits to leading online adult platforms, such as the top site in the UK. Data shows that user traffic to this platform in August stood at 9.8 million, a decline of 1.5 million from the equivalent month in 2024.

In total, visitor numbers to the 10 most-visited pornography sites in the UK have now stabilized at a “lower level” than before the end-of-July deadline. Later analysis suggests this slump in site visits continued beyond August.

Sharp Increase in Virtual Private Network Usage to Evade Restrictions

Reacting to the new rules, use of Virtual Private Networks (VPNs)—which can get around geographic blocks by routing internet traffic via another country—increased dramatically after 25 July.

Usage peaked at over 1.4 million in the middle of August, up from approximately 650,000 people before the verification were introduced. However, the regulator stated that VPN usage has since decreased, with current figures at approximately 900,000. It added that the volume of regular VPN use is “much lower” than user numbers for pornography services.

Young People Taking Action to Harmful Material

In other findings, the regulator's annual study found that about 60% of young people aged 11 to 17 had taken action after seeing distressing content online. Actions ranged from flagging the content to the site to muting the person who shared it.

This survey was conducted prior to new rules took effect that require social media companies to prevent children from accessing dangerous content, including material related to suicide and pornography. The most common way young people came across such content was by scrolling through a platform feed, suggesting that algorithms were serving harmful material.

Ministers Launch Examination of Pornography Laws

In a related development, the government announced it would examine the criminal law relating to pornography to assess whether it is adequate in the ever-developing digital age.

“The examination will look into the effectiveness of the existing law in relation to making illegal, for example, harmful depictions of familial abuse and any types of pornography which promote the abuse of children,” said a justice minister.

Campaigners Call For Tighter Digital Controls

Advocates for tighter control of online pornography have called on the government to ban so-called “barely legal” material. This encompasses content featuring simulated familial abuse or that appears to promote abuse by casting youthful adults portraying children.

Suggested changes to government bills aim to:

• Ban pornography where adults are mimicking children, often recorded in settings like children’s bedrooms.
• Broaden the offence of making an exploitative portrayal of a child to cover material where an adult plays the role of a child.
• Introduce tighter regulation on incest-themed pornography, which studies indicates is heavily recommended by platform algorithms.
• Add further controls on “nudification” technology, potentially making it an illegal act to own tools designed to create non-consensual nude images.
• Establish a new, separate oversight agency to perform spot checks on pornography sites and act on reports of unlawful content.

The campaigners argue that these steps would ensure the safeguards that have been enforced for decades in the physical world finally are extended to the digital age.