British Pornography Site Visits Declines After Identity Verifications, But VPN Use Surges, Reports Watchdog

Visitor numbers to pornography platforms in the UK has seen a notable drop after the introduction of age-checking measures this summer, according to the country's communications watchdog. Simultaneously, the adoption of tools designed to circumvent these blocks has risen.

Immediate Drop in Visitor Figures Following Law Implementation

The enforcement of age vetting on 25 July caused an prompt fall in traffic to leading pornography sites, including the most visited site in the UK. Figures shows that visitor numbers to this platform in August reached 9.8 million, a drop of 1.5 million compared to the equivalent month in 2024.

In total, traffic to the 10 top adult services in the UK have now settled at a markedly decreased volume than before the late July deadline. Later data shows this slump in viewing continued past August.

Sharp Increase in VPN Usage to Bypass Checks

In response to the new regulations, use of VPN software—which can get around geographic blocks by routing connections through another nation—surged after 25 July.

Usage peaked at over 1.4 million in mid-August, up from around 650,000 people before the checks began. Subsequently, the watchdog stated that VPN usage has since decreased, with latest figures at approximately 900,000. It added that the level of regular VPN use remains “much lower” than traffic for pornography sites.

Teenagers Taking Action to Damaging Material

In other findings, the watchdog's report revealed that about 60% of teenagers aged 11 to 17 had acted after encountering damaging content on the internet. Steps taken ranged from reporting the content to the platform to muting the user who posted it.

This survey was conducted prior to new regulations took effect that compel platforms to prevent children from seeing harmful content, such as material related to suicide and pornography. The primary way teenagers encountered such content was by scrolling through a social media feed, suggesting that algorithms were serving harmful material.

Ministers Announce Review of Pornography Laws

In a related development, the government announced it would review the legislation relating to pornography to assess whether it is effective in the ever-developing online world.

“The review will investigate the effectiveness of the existing law in relation to making illegal, for example, damaging portrayals of incest and any types of pornography which promote child sexual abuse,” said a justice minister.

Campaigners Call For Tighter Online Regulations

Advocates for better regulation of adult content have urged the authorities to outlaw 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 changes to government bills seek to:

• Ban pornography where adults are mimicking children, often filmed in settings like children’s bedrooms.
• Extend the offence of creating an exploitative portrayal of a child to include material where an adult plays the role of a child.
• Apply tighter controls on incest-themed pornography, which studies suggests is often promoted by platform systems.
• Introduce further restrictions on “nudification” technology, potentially making it an offence to possess software designed to generate private images without permission.
• Establish a new, independent regulatory body to conduct spot checks on pornography sites and respond to reports of illegal content.

The advocates argue that these measures would ensure the safeguards that have existed for decades in the physical world finally apply to the digital age.