UK Pornography Traffic Falls Following Age Verifications, Yet VPN Usage Surges, Reports Regulator
Traffic to pornography sites in the UK has fallen significantly after the roll-out of mandatory age verification earlier this year, according to the nation's communications watchdog. At the same time, the usage of specialist software designed to bypass these barriers has risen.
Sharp Fall in User Figures After Rule Implementation
The introduction of age vetting on 25 July resulted in an prompt reduction in traffic to popular online adult platforms, such as the leading site in the UK. Figures reveals that user traffic to this platform in August were 9.8 million, a drop of 1.5 million compared to the same period in 2024.
Overall, visitor numbers to the ten most-visited pornography sites in the UK have now stabilized at a “lower level” than before the late July deadline. Later data suggests this downward trend in site visits persisted beyond August.
Surge in VPN Usage to Bypass Checks
Reacting to the new regulations, adoption of VPN software—which can circumvent location-based blocks by routing connections via another nation—increased dramatically following 25 July.
Usage peaked at more than 1.4 million in the middle of August, rising from around 650,000 people before the checks began. Subsequently, the watchdog stated that VPN usage has since decreased, with current figures standing at approximately 900,000. It clarified that the level of regular VPN use is “much lower” than user numbers for pornography sites.
Teenagers Taking Action to Harmful Material
In other findings, the regulator's report revealed that about 60% of young people aged 11 to 17 had acted after seeing damaging content on the internet. Steps taken included flagging the material to the platform to muting the user who posted it.
This research was conducted before new rules took effect that require platforms to stop children from accessing harmful content, such as material related to suicide and adult material. The primary way young people came across such content was by looking through a platform feed, indicating that recommendation systems were showing inappropriate material.
Government Announce Examination of Adult Content Legislation
Separately, the ministers announced it would examine the criminal law relating to pornography to consider whether it is “fit for purpose” in the ever-developing digital age.
“The examination will investigate the effectiveness of the current law in regarding criminalising, among other things, damaging depictions of familial abuse and any forms of pornography which encourage child sexual abuse,” stated a government official.
Advocates Push For Tighter Digital Regulations
Campaigners for tighter control of adult content 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 using youthful performers portraying children.
Proposed amendments to legislation seek to:
- Ban pornography where adults are mimicking children, often recorded in environments like children’s bedrooms.
- Extend the offence of making an exploitative portrayal of a child to cover material where an older performer acts the part of a child.
- Introduce tighter controls on familial abuse pornography, which research suggests is heavily recommended by platform systems.
- Introduce further restrictions on “nudification” technology, potentially making it an offence to own tools designed to generate non-consensual nude images.
- Establish a new, independent regulatory body to conduct inspections on adult platforms and respond to reports of illegal content.
The advocates contend that these steps would ensure the protections that have been enforced for decades offline finally are extended to the digital age.
