Age verification on porn was just the first step. Now we need to ban it altogether

As age checks on UK porn sites come into effect, James Mildred welcomes the move but argues it doesn’t go far enough. To truly protect our children, we must confront the harms of the porn industry and push for a total ban, he says

Last week, the UK took a big step towards creating a safer internet. From 25 July 2025, a key part of the Online Safety Act came into effect which means robust, effective age verification must be in place on all porn sites streaming in the UK. I’ve already written about why this is a cause for celebration.

But not everyone is rejoicing! For example, Reform leader Nigel Farage and others have raised concerns about age checks and the privacy of people’s data and also censorship online.

An online petition has already been set up, calling for the Online Safety Act to be repealed. In just a few days it has gathered more than 404,000 signatories. We’ve also seen a big rise in the use of virtual private networks (VPNs), which allow users to access the internet via servers in other countries, despite the security risks associated with VPNs (especially the ‘free’ or cheap ones).