British Adult Content Site Visits Falls Following Age Checks, Yet Virtual Private Network Usage Spikes, Reports Regulator
Access to adult content platforms in the United Kingdom has decreased markedly since the enforcement of age-checking measures earlier this year, according to the country's communications authority. Concurrently, the adoption of tools designed to circumvent these barriers has increased.
Sharp Drop in User Figures Following Rule Implementation
The introduction of age vetting on 25 July led to an swift decline in visits to leading pornography sites, including the leading provider in the UK. Figures indicates that visitor numbers to this site in August reached 9.8 million, a decrease of 1.5 million compared to the equivalent month in 2024.
Overall, visitor numbers to the ten top adult services in the UK have now settled at a significantly reduced level than prior to the late July implementation date. Subsequent analysis suggests this slump in site visits persisted past August.
Surge in Virtual Private Network Usage to Evade Restrictions
In response to the new regulations, adoption of Virtual Private Networks (VPNs)—which can get around geographic restrictions by routing internet traffic through another country—more than doubled after 25 July.
User numbers peaked at more than 1.4 million in the middle of August, rising from around 650,000 users prior to the verification began. However, the regulator stated that VPN usage has since decreased, with current figures standing at around 900,000. It added that the level of regular VPN use remains “much lower” than user numbers for adult sites.
Young People Responding to Damaging Online Content
In other findings, the regulator's report revealed that about 60% of young people aged 11 to 17 had taken action after seeing damaging content on the internet. Actions ranged from flagging the material to the platform to muting the person who posted it.
This survey was carried out before new regulations took effect that compel social media companies to prevent children from accessing harmful content, including material related to suicide and pornography. The most common way young people encountered such content was by scrolling through a social media feed, suggesting that algorithms were serving inappropriate material.
Government Announce Examination of Pornography Legislation
Separately, the government announced it would review the criminal law governing pornography to consider whether it is “fit for purpose” in the modern online world.
“The examination will investigate the efficacy of the existing law in relation to criminalising, among other things, harmful depictions of incest and any forms of pornography which encourage the abuse of children,” said a justice minister.
Advocates Push For Stricter Online Controls
Campaigners for tighter regulation of online pornography have called on 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.
Suggested changes to legislation aim to:
- Ban pornography where performers are mimicking children, often filmed in settings like children’s bedrooms.
- Broaden the offence of creating an exploitative portrayal of a child to include material where an older performer plays the role of a child.
- Introduce stricter regulation on incest-themed pornography, which studies indicates is heavily recommended by platform algorithms.
- Introduce further restrictions on “nudification” technology, potentially making it an illegal act to own tools designed to create non-consensual nude images.
- Establish a new, separate oversight agency to conduct spot checks on adult platforms and respond to reports of illegal content.
The advocates argue that these steps would ensure the protections that have existed for years offline finally are extended to the online sphere.
