UK age checks push users to noncompliant sites

The United Kingdom's newly enforced age verification rules under the Online Safety Act have sharply reduced traffic to sites that comply with mandatory ID or face-scan checks, while propelling large increases in visits to platforms that have ignored the measures, an analysis of web traffic suggests. The shift emerged within weeks of enforcement beginning and has prompted concerns from regulators, digital rights researchers and industry observers about unintended consequences for child safety, privacy and enforcement.

The law requires thousands of sites that carry explicit material to verify users' ages through methods such as government ID uploads, biometric face scans or third party age-estimation services. It also obliges wider online platforms to take steps to prevent minors from encountering adult content. An analysis that examined visitor data for the 90 most-visited explicit-content sites found 14 that had not deployed age checks. All 14 recorded large traffic gains from UK addresses; some reportedly doubled or tripled month-over-year, and one site saw U.K. visits rise to more than 350,000 in August.

Researchers and industry figures say the pattern reflects simple user...