Internet Filtering Statistics

• Not only adult content is being blocked
• All kinds of sites are reported as blocked
• ISP Responses to reports
• Reply stats by ISP
• Alexa top 100,000 sites
• ISP Blocks by top-level domain

Not only adult content is being blocked

The domains in these categories were identified by keyword searches and then double-checked by hand to ensure the categorisation was accurate.

Sites relating to keywords related to	Number of blocked domains identified	Number of domains still blocked	Current ISP blocks
Addiction, substance abuse support sites	185	91	287
Charities and non-profit organisations	98	17	24
Counselling, support, and mental health	112	77	191
Domestic violence and sexual abuse support	59	14	42
LGBTQ+ sites	114	39	121
School websites	161	23	52

The domains in these categories were identified by keyword searches.

Sites relating to keywords related to	Number of blocked domains identified through search	Number of domains still blocked	Current ISP blocks
Building and building supplies	58	23	54
CBD oils, CBD-related, and hemp products	112	91	505
Drainage and drain unblocking services	99	2	2
Photography sites	1372	513	1340
Religious (Christian) sites	37	8	19
Weddings and wedding photographers	4012	1480	3152
VPN sites	23	15	55

All kinds of sites are reported as blocked

In March 2019, we looked at all the domains that people had reported to an ISP through Blocked as an incorrect block. We categorised all the domains.

Category for Submitted Reports	Number of reported domains	Number of domains unblocked after reporting
Counselling, Support, and Mental Health	122	98
Charity and non-profit	68	55
Advice Sites (Drugs, Alcohol, Abuse)	52	44
Music	50	41
Weddings and Wedding Photographers	44	40
Tech, IT and Software	41	21
Adult, Pornography, and Escort Services	40	1
LGBTQ+	40	27
Alcohol-related (non-sales) sites	36	8
Sport and leisure	35	30
Arts, Crafts, and Sculpture	32	24
Builders and Building Supplies	32	27
Household, household repairs and DIY	32	32
Health	25	19
Alcohol	23	4
Books, Writing, and Literature	22	18
Shopping	22	13
CBD Oils, CBD-Related, and Hemp Products	21	8
Photography, Graphic Design, and Filmmaking	21	14
Religious	21	19
Transport and vehicles	21	18
Community and social media	19	6
Education and Academic Reference	19	14
Bars, Clubs, and Restaurants	18	8
Events and events companies	18	16
Parked or Inactive Domain	17	5
Political	17	6
Video and Online Games	17	5
Business and Services	16	15
Personal	15	11
Beauty and cosmetics	14	7
Industry and manufacturing	14	12
Regulated shooting ranges and associations	14	5
Travel and Tourism	14	13
Fashion	12	7
Media Streaming	12	4
Science and medical science	12	11
VPN or security tool	12	2
Advertising, Branding, and Communications Agencies	11	9
History and heritage	11	8
Agriculture, horticulture and agricultural supplies	10	8
APIs, CDNs, and Network Endpoints	9	3
Real Estate and Property	9	9
Child-related business	8	7
Clothing and Fashion	8	5
Cooking and food	7	7
File Sharing and BitTorrent Trackers	7	0
Celebrity related	5	5
Dating	5	0
Takeaway businesses	5	3
Wellbeing	5	4
Fireworks	4	1
Guns and Weapons	4	0
Humour, Comics and Entertainment	4	1
Languages and language learning	4	4
Architecture and Design	3	2
Body piercing and tattoos	3	2
Directory Services and Advertisements	3	3
Financial	3	3
Flower shops	3	2
Kitchens and Interior Design	3	2
Lotteries and gambling	3	1
Regulated UK gunshops	3	1
Spam or Hijacked	3	2
Web designers	3	3
Antiques and Collectibles	2	2
Drug Paraphernalia	2	0
Movies and TV	2	2
Spirituality and non-conventional beliefs	2	2
Vineyards	2	0
Care homes	1	1
E-cigarettes	1	0
Energy and environment	1	0
Gardening	1	1
News	1	1
Tobacco paraphernalia and collectibles	1	0
Tobacco sales	1	1

ISP Responses to reports

Network/Year	Unresolved non-policy block count	Unresolved policy block count	Resolved & blocked against policy
BT
2017	0	0	0
2018	0	0	2
2019	0	0	0
2020	0	0	0
2021	0	0	0
BT-Strict
2018	0	0	0
2019	0	0	0
2020	0	0	0
2021	0	0	0
2022	0	0	0
2023	0	0	0
Cloudflare family
2020	0	0	0
2021	0	0	0
2022	0	0	0
2023	0	0	0
EE
2018	0	0	0
2019	0	0	0
2020	0	0	0
2021	0	0	0
2022	0	0	0
2023	0	0	0
O2
2017	0	0	0
2018	0	0	0
2019	0	0	0
2020	0	0	0
2021	0	0	0
2022	0	0	0
2023	0	0	0
OpenDNS
2020	0	0	0
2021	0	0	0
2022	0	0	0
2023	0	0	0
Plusnet
2019	0	0	0
2020	0	0	0
2021	0	0	0
2022	0	0	0
2023	0	0	0
Sky
2018	0	0	0
2019	0	0	0
2020	0	0	0
2021	0	0	0
T-Mobile
2020	0	0	0
TalkTalk
2017	0	0	0
2018	0	0	0
2019	0	0	1
2020	0	0	3
2021	0	0	1
2022	0	0	0
2023	0	0	0
Three
2018	0	0	0
2019	0	0	0
2020	0	0	0
2021	0	0	0
2022	0	0	0
2023	0	0	0
VirginMedia
2018	0	0	0
2019	0	0	0
2020	0	0	0
2021	0	0	0
2022	0	0	0
2023	0	0	0
Vodafone
2018	0	0	0
2019	0	0	0
2020	0	0	0
2021	0	0	0
2022	0	0	0
2023	0	0	0

Reply stats by ISP

Network/Year	Reports Sent	Total replies received	Avg reply interval
BT
2017	2	0
2018	51	99	91 days
2019	144	272	73 days
2020	103	191	56 days
2021	100	183	22 days
BT-Strict
2018	28	49	90 days
2019	142	268	207 days
2020	101	202	178 days
2021	157	310	129 days
2022	176	217
2023	105	139
Cloudflare family
2020	17	3
2021	111	0
2022	106	0
2023	71	0
EE
2018	18	38	108 days
2019	85	167	81 days
2020	53	71	53 days
2021	58	90	39 days
2022	36	26
2023	25	21
O2
2017	3	0
2018	5	0
2019	60	56	132 days
2020	60	58	72 days
2021	72	84	44 days
2022	28	49
2023	44	65
OpenDNS
2020	30	130	101 days
2021	62	265	102 days
2022	33	170
2023	51	288
Plusnet
2019	53	0
2020	35	0
2021	68	0
2022	31	0
2023	27	0
Sky
2018	29	46	106 days
2019	121	150	118 days
2020	67	102	28 days
2021	24	43	14 days
T-Mobile
2020	1	1
TalkTalk
2017	3	0
2018	18	0
2019	151	128	143 days
2020	106	105	116 days
2021	191	88	76 days
2022	83	74
2023	68	60
Three
2018	11	16	222 days
2019	121	192	75 days
2020	74	152	65 days
2021	68	117	60 days
2022	48	51
2023	35	71
VirginMedia
2018	9	6	11 days
2019	77	20	393 days
2020	122	0
2021	177	178	173 days
2022	210	264
2023	188	271
Vodafone
2018	4	4	21 days
2019	90	98	376 days
2020	86	85
2021	92	89
2022	108	13
2023	128	80

Alexa top 100,000 sites

Blocked sites as a proportion of total sites checked

ISP Blocks by top-level domain