British Adult Content Traffic Falls After Identity Verifications, But Virtual Private Network Usage Spikes, Reports Watchdog
Traffic to adult content platforms in the United Kingdom has seen a notable drop since the introduction of age-checking measures earlier this year, according to the nation's communications authority. Concurrently, the adoption of tools designed to bypass these barriers has increased.
Sharp Fall in Visitor Figures After Rule Enforcement
The enforcement of age verification on 25 July resulted in an swift fall in traffic to leading online adult platforms, including the top site in the UK. Data shows that visitor numbers to this platform in August were 9.8 million, a drop of 1.5 million from the equivalent month in 2024.
Overall, traffic to the ten most-visited pornography sites in the UK have now settled at a “lower level” than before the late July deadline. Subsequent analysis suggests this decline in site visits persisted beyond August.
Surge in Virtual Private Network Adoption to Evade Restrictions
Reacting to the new rules, use of Virtual Private Networks (VPNs)—which can get around geographic restrictions by routing connections via another nation—surged following 25 July.
User numbers peaked at over 1.4 million in the middle of August, up from around 650,000 users prior to the checks began. Subsequently, the watchdog stated that VPN usage has since decreased, with current figures at around 900,000. It added that the volume of daily VPN use is “much lower” than user numbers for adult services.
Teenagers Taking Action to Damaging Online Content
Elsewhere, the regulator's annual study revealed that about 60% of young people aged 11 to 17 had acted after encountering damaging content on the internet. Steps taken included reporting the material to the site to blocking the user who shared it.
This research was carried out before new rules came into force that require platforms to stop children from accessing dangerous content, such as material related to suicide and pornography. The primary way teenagers encountered such content was by looking through a social media timeline, indicating that algorithms were serving harmful material.
Ministers Announce Review of Adult Content Laws
Separately, the government announced it would examine the criminal law relating to pornography to assess whether it is “fit for purpose” in the modern online world.
“The review will look into the effectiveness of the current law in relation to criminalising, for example, damaging portrayals of incest and any forms of pornography which promote the abuse of children,” stated a justice minister.
Campaigners Push For Stricter Online Controls
Campaigners for better regulation of adult content have called on the government to ban so-called “barely legal” material. This includes content featuring simulated familial abuse or that appears to promote abuse by casting young-looking adults portraying children.
Proposed amendments to legislation aim to:
- Ban pornography where adults are mimicking children, often filmed in settings like children’s bedrooms.
- Extend the offence of creating an indecent image of a child to include material where an older performer plays the role of a child.
- Introduce stricter regulation on familial abuse pornography, which research suggests is heavily recommended by platform algorithms.
- Add further restrictions on “nudification” technology, potentially making it an illegal act to own tools designed to generate non-consensual nude images.
- Create a new, independent regulatory body to conduct inspections on adult platforms and act on reports of illegal content.
The campaigners argue that these steps would ensure the protections that have existed for decades offline finally apply to the digital age.
