British Pornography Site Visits Declines After Age Verifications, Yet Virtual Private Network Usage Spikes, Reports Regulator

Visitor numbers to adult content websites in the UK has seen a notable drop since the roll-out of age-checking measures earlier this year, as reported by the country's communications watchdog. Concurrently, the use of specialist software designed to circumvent these restrictions has increased.

Sharp Drop in User Figures Following Law Enforcement

The introduction of age verification on 25 July caused an swift reduction in visits to leading online adult platforms, including the leading site in the UK. Data indicates that user traffic to this site in August reached 9.8 million, a decline of 1.5 million from the same period in 2024.

In total, traffic to the ten top adult services in the UK have now stabilized at a markedly decreased volume than before the late July deadline. Later data indicates this downward trend in site visits persisted past August.

Surge in VPN Adoption to Bypass Checks

Reacting to the new regulations, adoption of Virtual Private Networks (VPNs)—which can bypass location-based blocks by routing connections through another country—increased dramatically following 25 July.

User numbers reached a high at over 1.4 million in the middle of August, up from around 650,000 users prior to the checks were introduced. However, the watchdog noted that VPN usage has since fallen back, with current figures at approximately 900,000. It clarified that the level of regular VPN use remains “much lower” than traffic for pornography sites.

Young People Taking Action to Damaging Online Content

Elsewhere, the watchdog's report revealed that about 60% of teenagers aged 11 to 17 had acted after seeing harmful content on the internet. Actions included reporting the material to the platform to muting the person who posted it.

This research was carried out prior to new rules took effect that compel platforms to stop children from seeing dangerous content, including material related to self-harm and pornography. The most common way teenagers encountered such content was by looking through a platform timeline, indicating that algorithms were showing inappropriate material.

Government Announce Examination of Adult Content Legislation

In a related development, the ministers stated it would examine the criminal law relating to pornography to consider whether it is effective in the modern digital age.

“The examination will investigate the efficacy of the current law in relation to making illegal, among other things, harmful depictions of familial abuse and any forms of pornography which promote the abuse of children,” said a government official.

Advocates Push For Stricter Digital Controls

Advocates for tighter regulation of adult content have urged the authorities to outlaw so-called “barely legal” material. This encompasses content featuring incest scenes or that appears to promote child sexual abuse by casting youthful adults dressed as children.

Suggested changes to government bills aim to:

• Prohibit pornography where performers are mimicking children, sometimes recorded in environments like children’s bedrooms.
• Extend the crime of creating an exploitative portrayal of a child to cover material where an older performer plays the role of a child.
• Introduce stricter regulation on incest-themed pornography, which studies indicates is often promoted by platform algorithms.
• Introduce additional controls on “nudification” software, potentially making it an illegal act to possess tools designed to create private images without permission.
• Create a new, independent regulatory body to conduct spot checks on pornography sites and act on reports of illegal content.

The advocates contend that these steps would ensure the safeguards that have existed for years offline finally apply to the digital age.