UK Adult Content Traffic Declines Following Age Checks, But VPN Usage Surges, States Regulator

Visitor numbers to adult content sites in the UK has seen a notable drop after the enforcement of mandatory age verification this summer, as reported by the country's communications regulator. Concurrently, the adoption of tools designed to dodge these barriers has increased.

Sharp Drop in User Numbers Following Law Enforcement

The introduction of age vetting on 25 July resulted in an prompt decline in visits to popular pornography sites, including the leading provider in the UK. Figures shows that visitor numbers to this platform in August reached 9.8 million, a drop of 1.5 million from the equivalent month in 2024.

In total, traffic to the ten most-visited pornography sites in the UK have now stabilized at a markedly decreased volume than before the end-of-July deadline. Subsequent analysis indicates this downward trend in site visits continued beyond August.

Sharp Increase in Virtual Private Network Usage to Bypass Restrictions

Reacting to the new regulations, use of Virtual Private Networks (VPNs)—which can circumvent geographic blocks by masking internet traffic through another country—surged after 25 July.

Usage peaked at more than 1.4 million in mid-August, rising from approximately 650,000 people prior to the checks began. Subsequently, the regulator stated that VPN usage has afterwards steadily declined, with current figures at around 900,000. It added that the level of regular VPN use remains “much lower” than user numbers for adult services.

Young People Responding to Damaging Material

Elsewhere, the watchdog's report found that about 60% of teenagers aged 11 to 17 had taken action after seeing distressing content on the internet. Actions included flagging the material to the platform to muting the person who posted it.

This research was conducted before new rules came into force that require social media companies to prevent children from accessing harmful content, including material related to suicide and pornography. The primary way teenagers came across such content was by scrolling through a platform feed, indicating that algorithms were showing inappropriate material.

Ministers Launch Examination of Pornography Legislation

Separately, the government stated it would review the criminal law governing pornography to assess whether it is “fit for purpose” in the modern digital age.

“The examination will look into the efficacy of the existing law in relation to making illegal, among other things, damaging depictions of familial abuse and any types of pornography which encourage child sexual abuse,” stated a government official.

Advocates Call For Tighter Online Regulations

Campaigners for tighter regulation of adult content have urged the authorities to ban so-called “barely legal” material. This encompasses content featuring simulated familial abuse or that appears to promote child sexual abuse by using young-looking performers dressed as children.

Proposed amendments to government bills seek to:

• Ban pornography where performers are mimicking children, sometimes filmed in environments like children’s bedrooms.
• Extend the offence of creating an indecent image of a child to include material where an older performer acts the part of a child.
• Introduce stricter controls on familial abuse pornography, which research suggests is heavily recommended by platform systems.
• Introduce further controls on “nudification” software, potentially making it an offence to own tools designed to generate private images without permission.
• Create a new, independent oversight agency to conduct inspections on adult platforms and act on complaints of unlawful content.

The campaigners argue that these steps would ensure the protections that have been enforced for years offline finally apply to the online sphere.