British Adult Content Traffic Declines Following Age Verifications, But VPN Usage Surges, States Watchdog

Visitor numbers to adult content websites 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 usage of tools designed to dodge these barriers has surged.

Immediate Drop in User Figures After Law Enforcement

The enforcement of age verification on 25 July resulted in an swift fall in visits to popular pornography sites, such as the top site in the UK. Figures reveals that user traffic to this platform in August were 9.8 million, a decline of 1.5 million compared to the same period in 2024.

Overall, traffic to the 10 most-visited pornography sites in the UK have now settled at a significantly reduced level than before the end-of-July implementation date. Later analysis suggests this decline in site visits continued beyond August.

Surge in VPN Adoption to Evade Restrictions

In response to the new rules, use of Virtual Private Networks (VPNs)—which can bypass location-based restrictions by masking connections via another country—surged following 25 July.

User numbers reached a high at more than 1.4 million in the middle of August, up from around 650,000 people before the checks were introduced. Subsequently, the watchdog noted that VPN usage has since fallen back, with current numbers standing at approximately 900,000. It clarified that the level of regular VPN use is “much lower” than traffic for pornography services.

Teenagers Taking Action to Damaging Online Content

Elsewhere, the regulator's annual study found that about 60% of young people aged 11 to 17 had acted after encountering damaging content online. Steps taken ranged from reporting the content to the site to blocking the user who posted it.

This research was carried out prior to new regulations came into force that require social media companies to prevent children from seeing harmful content, including material related to self-harm and adult material. The most common way young people encountered such content was by looking through a social media feed, suggesting that recommendation systems were serving inappropriate material.

Ministers Announce Review of Adult Content Laws

In a related development, the government announced it would review the criminal law relating to pornography to consider whether it is effective in the modern online world.

“The review will look into the efficacy of the existing law in regarding criminalising, among other things, damaging portrayals of incest and any forms of pornography which promote the abuse of children,” said a government official.

Advocates Push For Tighter Digital Controls

Advocates for better control of adult content have urged the authorities to ban so-called “barely legal” material. This includes content featuring simulated familial abuse or that encourages child sexual abuse by using youthful performers portraying children.

Proposed amendments to legislation aim to:

• Prohibit pornography where performers are impersonating children, often recorded in environments like children’s bedrooms.
• Broaden the offence of creating an exploitative portrayal of a child to include material where an older performer plays the role of a child.
• Apply stricter controls on incest-themed pornography, which research suggests is heavily recommended by site algorithms.
• Introduce further restrictions on “nudification” technology, potentially making it an offence to own software designed to generate private images without permission.
• Establish a new, separate regulatory body to perform inspections on adult platforms and respond to reports of unlawful content.

The advocates contend that these steps would ensure the protections that have been enforced for years in the physical world finally are extended to the digital age.