British Adult Content Traffic Falls After Identity Verifications, Yet VPN Use Surges, Reports Watchdog
Visitor numbers to adult content websites in the United Kingdom has decreased markedly since the introduction of mandatory age verification earlier this year, as reported by the nation's communications authority. Simultaneously, the usage of tools designed to bypass these blocks has surged.
Immediate Drop in User Numbers After Law Enforcement
The enforcement of age vetting on 25 July led to an swift decline in visits to major online adult platforms, such as the top provider in the UK. Data shows that visitor numbers to this platform in August were 9.8 million, a decrease of 1.5 million compared to the same period in 2024.
Overall, traffic to the ten most-visited adult services in the UK have now stabilized at a significantly reduced level than before the end-of-July deadline. Later analysis indicates this decline in viewing persisted past August.
Sharp Increase in Virtual Private Network Adoption to Evade Restrictions
In response to the new rules, adoption of Virtual Private Networks (VPNs)—which can circumvent geographic restrictions by masking internet traffic via another nation—increased dramatically after 25 July.
Usage reached a high at more than 1.4 million in the middle of August, rising from approximately 650,000 users before the verification were introduced. However, the regulator stated that VPN usage has afterwards steadily declined, with current figures at around 900,000. It clarified that the level of daily VPN use is “much lower” than user numbers for pornography services.
Young People Responding to Damaging Material
Elsewhere, the regulator's annual study revealed that about 60% of young people aged 11 to 17 had taken action after seeing distressing content on the internet. Steps taken ranged from reporting the material to the platform to muting the person who posted it.
This research was conducted before new regulations took effect that compel platforms to prevent children from accessing harmful content, such as 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 showing harmful material.
Government Announce Examination of Pornography Laws
Separately, the ministers stated it would examine the criminal law relating to pornography to assess whether it is adequate in the ever-developing online world.
“The review will look into the efficacy of the current law in relation to making illegal, among other things, harmful depictions of familial abuse and any types of pornography which promote the abuse of children,” said a justice minister.
Campaigners Push 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 child sexual abuse by using youthful adults dressed as children.
Suggested amendments to government bills seek to:
- Ban pornography where performers are impersonating children, sometimes filmed in settings like children’s bedrooms.
- Extend the crime of creating an indecent image of a child to cover material where an older performer acts the part of a child.
- Introduce stricter controls on incest-themed pornography, which research indicates is often promoted by platform systems.
- Add additional controls on “nudification” technology, potentially making it an offence to possess software designed to generate non-consensual nude images.
- Create a new, separate regulatory body to perform inspections on pornography sites and respond to complaints of unlawful content.
The advocates contend that these steps would ensure the safeguards that have been enforced for decades offline finally are extended to the online sphere.
