British Adult Content Traffic Declines After Age Verifications, Yet Virtual Private Network Usage Spikes, States Watchdog

Visitor numbers to pornography sites in the United Kingdom has seen a notable drop since the introduction of age-checking measures this summer, as reported by the country's communications authority. At the same time, the adoption of tools designed to bypass these blocks has increased.

Sharp Drop in Visitor Figures Following Rule Implementation

The enforcement of age verification on 25 July resulted in an swift reduction in visits to popular pornography sites, including the top site in the UK. Figures shows that user traffic to this site in August were 9.8 million, a drop of 1.5 million from the equivalent month in 2024.

Overall, traffic to the 10 most-visited pornography sites in the UK have now stabilized at a “lower level” than prior to the end-of-July implementation date. Subsequent data shows this slump in viewing persisted beyond August.

Surge in Virtual Private Network Adoption to Bypass Checks

Reacting to the new regulations, adoption of Virtual Private Networks (VPNs)—which can get around location-based restrictions by masking internet traffic via another country—more than doubled after 25 July.

Usage reached a high at over 1.4 million in mid-August, up from approximately 650,000 people before the checks were introduced. However, the watchdog stated that VPN usage has since decreased, with current figures standing at approximately 900,000. It clarified that the level of regular VPN use remains “much lower” than traffic for adult sites.

Teenagers Taking Action to Harmful Material

In other findings, the regulator's annual study revealed that about 60% of young people aged 11 to 17 had taken action after seeing harmful content online. Actions included flagging the material to the site to muting the user who shared it.

This research was carried out before new regulations took effect that require social media companies to stop children from seeing harmful content, including material related to self-harm and pornography. The most common way teenagers came across such content was by looking through a platform feed, suggesting that algorithms were showing inappropriate material.

Government Launch Examination of Adult Content Legislation

Separately, the ministers stated it would examine the criminal law relating to pornography to assess whether it is adequate in the modern online world.

“The examination will look into the effectiveness of the current law in regarding criminalising, for example, harmful portrayals of incest and any forms of pornography which encourage the abuse of children,” stated a justice minister.

Campaigners Push For Tighter Online Controls

Advocates for tighter regulation of online pornography have called on the government to ban so-called “barely legal” material. This includes content featuring incest scenes or that appears to promote child sexual abuse by using young-looking performers portraying children.

Suggested amendments to government bills aim to:

• Prohibit pornography where adults are mimicking children, often filmed in environments like children’s bedrooms.
• Broaden the crime of creating an exploitative portrayal of a child to include material where an adult plays the role of a child.
• Introduce tighter regulation on incest-themed pornography, which research suggests is heavily recommended by site systems.
• Add further restrictions on “nudification” software, potentially making it an offence to own software designed to create private images without permission.
• Create a new, independent oversight agency to conduct inspections on adult platforms and respond to complaints of illegal content.

The campaigners argue that these steps would ensure the safeguards that have existed for years offline finally are extended to the online sphere.