British Pornography Traffic Falls Following Age Verifications, But VPN Use Spikes, Reports Watchdog

Traffic to pornography platforms in the United Kingdom has fallen significantly after the introduction of mandatory age verification this summer, as reported by the country's communications authority. Simultaneously, the usage of specialist software designed to dodge these barriers has risen.

Sharp Fall in Visitor Numbers Following Law Implementation

The introduction of age verification on 25 July caused an swift decline in traffic to major pornography sites, including the most visited site in the UK. Data shows that visitor numbers to this platform in August reached 9.8 million, a drop of 1.5 million from the equivalent month in 2024.

Overall, visitor numbers to the ten most-visited pornography sites in the UK have now settled at a significantly reduced level than prior to the late July implementation date. Subsequent analysis indicates this decline in site visits persisted past August.

Surge in VPN Adoption to Evade Restrictions

Reacting to the new rules, adoption of VPN software—which can circumvent location-based blocks by routing internet traffic through another country—increased dramatically following 25 July.

User numbers peaked at more than 1.4 million in the middle of August, rising from around 650,000 people prior to the verification were introduced. However, the watchdog noted that VPN usage has since steadily declined, with current numbers at around 900,000. It clarified that the volume of regular VPN use remains “much lower” than traffic for adult sites.

Teenagers Responding to Harmful Material

In other findings, the watchdog's report revealed that about 60% of young people aged 11 to 17 had acted after encountering distressing content on the internet. Steps taken included reporting the material to the platform to muting the person who shared it.

This survey was conducted prior to new regulations took effect that compel social media companies to stop children from seeing harmful content, such as material related to self-harm and pornography. The primary way teenagers came across such content was by looking through a platform timeline, indicating that algorithms were showing inappropriate material.

Government Launch Review of Pornography Laws

Separately, the government announced it would review the legislation relating to pornography to consider whether it is effective in the ever-developing digital age.

“The examination will investigate the efficacy of the existing law in relation to criminalising, for example, damaging portrayals of familial abuse and any forms of pornography which promote child sexual abuse,” said a government official.

Advocates Call For Stricter Digital Controls

Campaigners for better control of online pornography have called on the government to ban so-called “barely legal” material. This includes content featuring simulated familial abuse or that encourages child sexual abuse by casting youthful performers portraying children.

Proposed changes to government bills aim to:

• Prohibit pornography where performers are mimicking children, often filmed in environments like children’s bedrooms.
• Extend the offence of creating an indecent image of a child to include material where an adult plays the role of a child.
• Apply tighter controls on incest-themed pornography, which research indicates is heavily recommended by site systems.
• Introduce further controls on “nudification” technology, potentially making it an illegal act to own software designed to create non-consensual nude images.
• Create a new, separate oversight agency to perform spot checks on pornography sites and act on complaints of illegal content.

The campaigners contend that these measures would ensure the safeguards that have been enforced for years in the physical world finally are extended to the online sphere.