Introduction of latest age verification rules sees drop in porn users

Christian policy group CARE has welcomed the introduction of the controversial Online Safety Act, saying that the requirement to incorporate age verification on pornographic web sites has led to a “massive drop in porn site traffic”.

Citing figures from Similarweb and Pornhub, the most well-liked pornography sites in Britain, CARE noted that within the two weeks following the imposition of the change the sites lost over 1,000,000 visitors.

From 24 July, the day before the brand new rules, to eight August, Pornhub’s traffic fell by 47 per cent. Other sites like XVideos apparently saw visitors fall by similar amounts.

Tim Cairns, Online Safety Lead at CARE, said, “On one level, these latest figures are hardly a surprise because in case you make porn harder to access, then you definitely’d expect to see a drop in users.

“But what’s critical to notice is this implies hundreds of kids have been rightly prevented from seeing porn online. This includes explicit content that depicts violence against women.

Cairns said that concerns around age verification being circumvented by VPNs have to this point not come true. 

It has asked that regulator Ofcom make an example of ay pornography sites failing to comply with the brand new requirements.

Some parts of the act are causing concern, though, with Carys Moseley of Christian Concern saying that it represents a threat the liberty of speech.

“The bill gives tech firms powers so that they can resolve what counts as ‘legal but harmful’,” she said. 

“Tech firms would even be liable to heavy fines in the event that they fail to comply. What this implies is that even content that isn’t illegal could find yourself being censored if firms consider it ‘harmful’.”

Critics have alleged that for the reason that act became law online criticism of illegal immigration and the conflict in Gaza have sometimes been hidden by tech platforms in an effort to comply with the law.