UK porn site traffic plunges since age checks - but VPN use up
Here’s what happened when porn sites introduced UK age checks
- Mandatory age verification for adult content sites in the UK, enforced from 25 July under the Online Safety Act, has resulted in a sharp and immediate fall in visits to popular online porn sites.
- Ofcom's annual Online Nation report indicated that Pornhub, the most visited adult content provider, saw a 1.5 million viewer drop year-on-year.
- Other major sites have also experienced significant percentage decreases in unique visitors.
- Following the age verification mandate, VPN (virtual private network) usage in the UK more than doubled, peaking at over 1.4 million daily users.
- Ofcom suggests that may be due to users' unwillingness or inability to complete age assurance checks.