British Adult Content Site Visits Falls After Identity Checks, Yet VPN Usage Surges, States Watchdog
Traffic to adult content sites in the UK has seen a notable drop since the enforcement of age-checking measures earlier this year, according to the nation's communications regulator. Concurrently, the use of specialist software designed to circumvent these blocks has increased.
Immediate Drop in User Numbers After Law Implementation
The enforcement of age vetting on 25 July resulted in an prompt fall in visits to leading pornography sites, including the top site in the UK. Data shows that user traffic to this platform in August reached 9.8 million, a drop of 1.5 million from the equivalent month in 2024.
Overall, traffic to the ten top pornography sites in the UK have now settled at a markedly decreased volume than prior to the end-of-July implementation date. Later analysis indicates this decline in viewing continued beyond August.
Sharp Increase in VPN Usage to Bypass Restrictions
Reacting to the new rules, adoption of Virtual Private Networks (VPNs)—which can bypass geographic blocks by routing connections via 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 were introduced. Subsequently, the watchdog noted that VPN usage has afterwards decreased, with latest figures standing at approximately 900,000. It clarified that the volume of regular VPN use is “much lower” than traffic for pornography services.
Teenagers Taking Action to Harmful Material
In other findings, the regulator's annual study found that about 60% of teenagers aged 11 to 17 had acted after seeing distressing content on the internet. Steps taken ranged from flagging the material to the platform to muting the user who shared it.
This research was conducted prior to new regulations took effect that require social media companies to prevent children from accessing dangerous content, such as material related to self-harm and adult material. The primary way teenagers came across such content was by scrolling through a social media timeline, suggesting that recommendation systems were serving inappropriate material.
Ministers Launch Examination of Pornography Legislation
In a related development, the ministers stated it would review the legislation relating to pornography to consider whether it is adequate in the modern online world.
“The examination will investigate the effectiveness of the current law in regarding criminalising, among other things, harmful depictions of familial abuse and any types of pornography which encourage child sexual abuse,” stated a government official.
Advocates Call For Tighter Digital Regulations
Advocates for better control of online pornography have called on the authorities to ban so-called “barely legal” material. This encompasses content featuring incest scenes or that appears to promote child sexual abuse by casting young-looking performers portraying children.
Suggested amendments to government bills aim to:
- Prohibit pornography where performers are mimicking children, often recorded in environments like children’s bedrooms.
- Broaden the crime of creating an indecent image of a child to include material where an older performer acts the part of a child.
- Introduce stricter controls on familial abuse pornography, which research indicates is heavily recommended by platform systems.
- Add additional controls on “nudification” technology, potentially making it an illegal act to possess software designed to create private images without permission.
- Create a new, independent regulatory body to perform inspections on pornography sites and act on reports of unlawful content.
The advocates contend that these steps would ensure the safeguards that have existed for decades in the physical world finally are extended to the online sphere.
