Laut Ofcom ist der britische Pornoverkehr seit Beginn der Alterskontrollen zurückgegangen, aber die VPN-Nutzung ist gestiegen

    https://www.theguardian.com/society/2025/dec/10/uk-porn-traffic-down-age-checks-vpn-use-up-ofcom

    Von CodeDominator

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    33 Kommentare

    1. JackStrawWitchita on

      Porn traffic is not down, it’s being routed through VPNs and sites who don’t monitor where traffic comes from. The government is desperately trying to spin this failed policy.

    2. I_am_legend-ary on

      Next logical step is making VPNs require age verification.

      Personally (and I know Reddit will have this) I’m not against these new rules, I think more needs to be done to avoid capturing non-porn support sites.

      But overall the more barriers we can put in place to stopping some children accessing porn the better

    3. What’s the benefit to the country of reduced porn use? How is the economy booming based on this change?

    4. tuna_pannini on

      The same people who introduced this policy think that banning torrents on isp level stopped piracy.

    5. So Ofcom and the Government are claiming OSA as a success and so are VPN providers but for a different reason.

      Do Ofcom and the Government really believe that the population of Panama increased by tens of millions overnight.

    6. All the child predators evaporated when the porn ban landed too, it was like a switch they just disappeared from the radar.. such a successful scheme. /s

    7. Physical-Rabbit-3809 on

      In other news porn viewership has went up by around 30 million in America.

    8. A_Swan_Broke_My_Arm on

      I realise everyone’s on the huhh-duh ‘VPN!’ bandwagon, but I don’t follow how this is a bad thing?

      VPN’s are easily installed and maintained (ie. payment for), yes. But if that puts up a hurdle your average 12 year old isn’t willing to make then its stopped them from viewing a woman getting railed by a horse at two easy clicks on a whim…

      Which, to me, is a ‘good thing’.

      The ‘ban’ is a minor inconvenience to anyone with an ounce of common sense, although I fully accept that, on the surface, it appears woefully misguided. And chucking your personal details / Face ID to a jazz site is just… for fuck sake. Who thought of this?

      And if they go after VPN’s, they’re as deluded as the clever clogs here first assumed.

      But the more barriers to kids accessing hardcore grot, the better (in my view)

      Edit. I reading the replies, I don’t all the way disagree, but no one yet has come up with an alternative to stopping 12 year olds gaining access to a woman being railed by a horse…

    9. random_user_1968 on

      I use a VPN, I’m an adult, there’s nobody under 18 in my home so we’ll do whatever we want.

    10. As the phrase goes:

      > There are three kinds of lies: lies, damned lies, and statistics.

      Lie to get the law in; use statistics to say the law is successful.

    11. _Permanent_Marker_ on

      Does anyone care enough to actually sign up or use a vpn? As soon as the ban kicked in that was enough porn for me

    12. Neddlings55 on

      Does this take into account browsers like Opera that have built in VPNs? Or just ones that people download and/or pay for?

    13. _40mikemike_ on

      Time to break out the littlewoods catalogue again. Until the government tax that anyway.

    14. ChickenPijja on

      In other news: water makes things wet. My projection for the UK’s weather in 2026: It’ll rain at some point

      It’s significantly easier to get a VPN that you can then use for Reddit, porn sites, imgur, youtube and so many more, than it is to verify your identity on every one of those sites.

    15. dont-try-do on

      I work with kids as part of social services and what not.

      If you think this porn block is protecting kids you’re old hat. Snapchat and other group chat messaging services are absolutely loaded with porn and IIOC.

      Every school is having an issue with children sharing self generated images.

      Snapchat quick add is absolutely horrific for this. Kids get spammed with ‚do you send‘ and ’share?‘. It’s as easy as that for them.

      Also kids are smart this block is trivial to bypass. There are numerous web browsers in the app store by reputable providers that have free VPNs built in.

    16. sober_disposition on

      The objective of this policy wasn’t to stop us watching porn, it was to “protect our children”.

      Do we really think the reduction in traffic is simply due to children not being able to access porn anymore?

    17. Greymon-Katratzi on

      We all knew this would happen. It shut up the ‘Think of the children’ brigade. Who I am sure will now try to ban teens from social media.

    18. Statement-Acceptable on

      I find the funniest part of the OSA is that the more nefarious porn sites are the ones that have not been caught by the OSA because they DGAF about following the rules.

      Complete and utter waste of time there are so many ways around the OSA and if a 41yr old man can do it you can bet your fucking house 14yr old kids have also found ways around it.

    19. No_Dot_7136 on

      In other news… Water is wet. Everyone knew this was going to be the result of the age verification, even the people who thought it up and imposed it, knew it, surely? Because you’d have to be a god damn idiot to have not seen this coming.

    20. Organic_Armadillo_10 on

      Well duh. A VPN gets around the blocks in basically 2 seconds and 3 clicks… Thankfully VPN’s get around most Internet geographic blocks.

      And much like when Netflix and steaming sites tried blocking them. The next day they’d work again as they’d have fixed it and found new ways around it.

      You stick blocks up, people will find a way around.

      That’s why the social media ban for under 16’s in Australia is pointless too. Yes it’ll probably prevent them accessing it briefly, but they’ll find other ways around or they’ll find other sites to use to get around it. It’s just human nature – that’s why smuggling exists and speakeasy’s were created. To get around bans.

      Social media may not be healthy in some cases, but blocking it isn’t the solution. Especially for kids who have grown up in a social media era, while Millennials like me we’re around just at the start of it. Social media means news, research, connection and even job opportunities these days. Cutting it off rather than making parent more responsible and having more education about it seems stupid.

    21. Exciting-Sir-1515 on

      Porn traffic down

      Actual real life rape cases going up

      Thanks Kier

    22. Delicious_Bet_6336 on

      Unrelated to this but I’m getting a higher than normal number of Dutch and Albanian (I think) adverts on my podcasts at the moment…

    23. S1mbathecub on

      My VPN connected to Belgium has been permanently on for 128 days now.

      I think after 5 years I’ll be eligible for EU citizenship again

    24. Yeah, porn traffic in the Netherlands is properly massively up, to cover for that.

    25. NorthbyFjord on

      Shock horror, VPN traffic is up! Like that wasn’t going to happen lmao

    26. Guardian has a twisted view using words to twist the narrative about using VPN for so called bad, „specialist software to dodge viewing restrictions has increased“, „software that can circumvent viewing restrictions“. Another newspaper posting shit

    27. Scr1mmyBingus on

      Petty vandalism such as graffiti is down 80%, while heavy sack beatings are up a shocking
      900%

    28. Imagine living in a nanny state controlled by an overactive government restricting your rights to enjoyment and free speech. Yet turning a blind eye to illegal aliens. Oh wait..

    29. I thought it was about protecting the children? What does the level of porn traffic matter to Ofcom if that wasn’t the concern?

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