Yet few think they will be effective at stopping children gaining access to pornography

Key takeaways

  • 75% of Britons support age verification requirements for websites with pornographic, mature or potentially harmful material
  • This falls between the 80% and 69% who said the same immediately before and after the initial implementation of the new rules in July last year
  • Only 31% think age verification will be effective at stopping children gaining access to pornography, including 38% of those who support the restrictions
  • Young men are particularly less likely to support age verification rules
  • By 50% to 18%, Britons also say under-18s should be banned from using VPNs

July last year saw key parts of the Online Safety Act come into force, namely the requirement for websites containing pornographic and other mature content to verify the ages of users before granting them access.

Criticism of the measures was strident in some quarters, including towards YouGov for the survey design from our July studies which showed substantial support for the bills.

While we stand by our methods, upon returning to the subject we have run alternative versions of the questions to test the theories by some critics that different angles would have produced different results. The results do not bear this out, with broadly similar sets of answers between the different questions.

For instance, eight months on, we find that 75% of Britons support “recent rules requiring age verification to access websites that may contain pornographic, mature, or potentially harmful material”.

This sits in between the 80% who said the same immediately prior to the implementation of age verification laws, and the 69% who said so shortly afterwards, suggesting that the media coverage of the law change caused a brief dip in support but has now reverted to a slightly higher level.

Indeed, an alternate version of this question framed around the practical implications to users of the rules change – “requiring all visitors to websites that contain pornographic, mature, or potentially harmful material to verify their age before they can access that website” – without reference to the new laws found more emphatic backing, with 79% giving their support, and the number saying they “strongly support” this measure rising from 49% to 60%.

The same question with an additional prompt that the measures are “to prevent under-18s from accessing those websites” received near-identical response rates.

Men are less likely to support the age verification changes than women (63% vs 88%), and support is likewise lower among younger Britons: 58% of Gen Z, rising to 92% of Baby Boomers.

It is no surprise therefore to see that young men are the very least likely to support age verification, with only 46% of Gen Z doing so – almost the same as the 43% opposed.

This is likely because men, and younger men in particular, are the most likely to be affected by the ban. While only 34% of all Britons say they have encountered the new restrictions since they were introduced, this rises to 50% of all men and 67% of Gen Z men.

Nevertheless, the majority of those who have encountered the new restrictions (63%) still support the changes. This includes 57% of men who have come up against the new age verification requirements. While sample size constraints do not allow us to look at Gen Z men who have encountered age restrictions in isolation, combining their sample with Millennial men finds 47% in favour and 48% opposed.

But do Britons think age verification restrictions will work?

While support for age verification remains high, confidence in its effectiveness continues to be low. Just over a quarter (28%) say they think the changes will be very or fairly effective at preventing those younger than 18 from gaining access to pornography. The majority (57%) think they would be ineffective. Again, these figures fall in between those from our 24 July and 31 July 2025 surveys.

In contrast to support levels, scepticism towards the effectiveness of the new rules is broadly consistent across demographic groups, and even among those in favour of the changes, 54% think they will be ineffective.

Britons also say that under-18s should be banned from using VPNs

One of the criticisms of the new age verification rules is that they are easy for teens to bypass through the use of Virtual Private Networks (VPNs). Indeed, immediately following the introduction of the new rules, VPN downloads in the UK skyrocketed, becoming the most downloaded programs on Apple’s App Store.

Half of Britons (50%) say under-18s should be banned from using VPNs, with only 18% saying they should be allowed to use them. These figures represent a minor drop in the number supporting a ban since our previous poll in August, but no increase in the number affirming their continued use by under-18s.

It is also worth noting this change could be attributable to a change in question wording that more greatly emphasised VPNs’ use for security and privacy in addition to bypassing content restrictions.

Gen Z prove to be against VPN restrictions by a rate of 40% versus 30% in favour, although this conceals a difference between the genders, with 54% of Gen Z men opposed to a ban but only 27% of women the same age saying the same.

All older generations come down much more substantially on the side of a ban.

Results tables coming shortly

Interested in taking YouGov surveys? What do you think about the age verification laws, their likely effectiveness, and everything else? Have your say, join the YouGov panel, and get paid to share your thoughts. Sign up here.

Interested in commissioning YouGov research? We connect in real-time with real people around the world to gather their thoughts, behaviours, and opinions, to ensure that our research data is powered by reality. Explore our survey services here.

Photo: Getty

Subscribe to the YouGov newsletter