British Adult Content Site Visits Declines After Age Verifications, But Virtual Private Network Usage Surges, States Regulator

Access to pornography sites in the United Kingdom has seen a notable drop since the enforcement of age-checking measures this summer, as reported by the nation's communications authority. At the same time, the usage of specialist software designed to bypass these blocks has increased.

Sharp Fall in Visitor Figures Following Rule Implementation

The introduction of age verification on 25 July resulted in an swift fall in traffic to leading online adult platforms, including the leading provider in the UK. Figures indicates that user traffic to this site in August stood at 9.8 million, a decline of 1.5 million compared to the equivalent month in 2024.

Overall, visitor numbers to the ten most-visited adult services in the UK have now stabilized at a significantly reduced level than before the late July implementation date. Later data suggests this downward trend in site visits persisted beyond August.

Surge in Virtual Private Network Usage to Bypass Checks

Reacting to the new rules, adoption of Virtual Private Networks (VPNs)—which can bypass geographic restrictions by routing connections via another nation—increased dramatically after 25 July.

User numbers reached a high at more than 1.4 million in mid-August, up from approximately 650,000 users before the checks began. Subsequently, the watchdog stated that VPN usage has since fallen back, with current figures at around 900,000. It clarified that the level of regular VPN use remains “much lower” than traffic for adult sites.

Young People Taking Action to Damaging Online Content

In other findings, the regulator's report revealed that about 60% of teenagers aged 11 to 17 had acted after seeing harmful content on the internet. Steps taken included flagging the content to the site to muting the person who posted it.

This research was conducted before new rules came into force that compel platforms to prevent children from seeing dangerous content, including material related to suicide and pornography. The most common way young people came across such content was by looking through a social media timeline, suggesting that algorithms were showing inappropriate material.

Ministers Launch Examination of Pornography Legislation

In a related development, the ministers stated it would review the criminal law governing pornography to consider whether it is effective in the modern online world.

“The review will look into the effectiveness of the existing law in regarding making illegal, for example, harmful depictions of incest and any types of pornography which encourage child sexual abuse,” stated a government official.

Advocates Call For Stricter Digital Regulations

Advocates for better regulation of online pornography have called on the government to outlaw so-called “barely legal” material. This encompasses content featuring simulated familial abuse or that encourages abuse by casting young-looking performers portraying children.

Proposed amendments to legislation aim to:

• Prohibit pornography where adults are mimicking children, sometimes filmed in environments like children’s bedrooms.
• Extend the crime of creating an indecent image of a child to cover material where an adult plays the role of a child.
• Introduce tighter controls on incest-themed pornography, which research suggests is heavily recommended by platform systems.
• Add further controls on “nudification” technology, potentially making it an offence to own tools designed to generate non-consensual nude images.
• Establish a new, separate oversight agency to conduct spot checks on pornography sites and respond to reports of unlawful content.

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