British Adult Content Traffic Declines After Age Verifications, Yet VPN Usage Spikes, States Regulator

Access to pornography platforms in the United Kingdom has decreased markedly after the roll-out of age-checking measures this summer, as reported by the country's communications regulator. At the same time, the use of specialist software designed to dodge these blocks has increased.

Immediate Fall in User Figures After Law Implementation

The introduction of age vetting on 25 July resulted in an prompt reduction in traffic to major pornography sites, such as the most visited site in the UK. Data reveals that visitor numbers to this site in August stood at 9.8 million, a decline of 1.5 million from the equivalent month in 2024.

Overall, visitor numbers to the ten top adult services in the UK have now stabilized at a “lower level” than before the end-of-July implementation date. Subsequent analysis suggests this downward trend in site visits continued beyond August.

Surge in VPN Adoption to Bypass Restrictions

Reacting to the new rules, use of Virtual Private Networks (VPNs)—which can get around geographic blocks by masking internet traffic through another nation—more than doubled following 25 July.

Usage reached a high at more than 1.4 million in mid-August, up from around 650,000 users prior to the verification were introduced. However, the regulator stated that VPN usage has since decreased, with latest numbers standing at approximately 900,000. It clarified that the level of regular VPN use remains “much lower” than traffic for adult sites.

Young People Responding to Harmful Online Content

In other findings, the watchdog's annual study revealed that about 60% of young people aged 11 to 17 had taken action after seeing damaging content on the internet. Actions ranged from flagging the content to the site to muting the person who posted it.

This survey was carried out prior to new regulations took effect that compel platforms to prevent children from seeing dangerous content, such as material related to suicide and adult material. The primary way teenagers encountered such content was by looking through a platform feed, suggesting that recommendation systems were showing harmful material.

Government Announce Review of Pornography Legislation

Separately, the government announced it would examine the legislation relating to pornography to consider whether it is “fit for purpose” in the modern online world.

“The review will investigate the effectiveness of the existing law in relation to making illegal, among other things, damaging portrayals of familial abuse and any types of pornography which promote the abuse of children,” stated a government official.

Advocates Push For Stricter Digital Regulations

Advocates for better regulation of adult content have called on the authorities to ban so-called “barely legal” material. This includes content featuring incest scenes or that encourages abuse by using youthful adults dressed as children.

Proposed amendments to government bills seek to:

• Ban pornography where adults are mimicking children, sometimes recorded in environments like children’s bedrooms.
• Extend the crime of making an exploitative portrayal of a child to cover material where an adult plays the role of a child.
• Apply tighter controls on incest-themed pornography, which research indicates is often promoted by platform systems.
• Introduce additional controls on “nudification” software, potentially making it an illegal act to possess tools designed to create non-consensual nude images.
• Create a new, separate regulatory body to conduct spot checks on adult platforms and respond to reports of illegal content.

The advocates argue that these measures would ensure the protections that have existed for decades offline finally are extended to the digital age.