UK Adult Content Site Visits Declines After Identity Checks, Yet VPN Use Spikes, Reports Watchdog

Access to pornography platforms in the UK has seen a notable drop since the introduction of mandatory age verification this summer, according to the nation's communications regulator. Concurrently, the use of tools designed to circumvent these blocks has increased.

Sharp Fall in User Figures Following Rule Enforcement

The enforcement of age vetting on 25 July led to an prompt fall in traffic to leading online adult platforms, including the leading site in the UK. Figures reveals that user traffic to this site in August were 9.8 million, a decrease of 1.5 million from the same period in 2024.

In total, traffic to the 10 top pornography sites in the UK have now stabilized at a markedly decreased volume than before the end-of-July implementation date. Later data shows this slump in site visits continued beyond August.

Surge in VPN Usage to Evade Checks

In response to the new rules, use of Virtual Private Networks (VPNs)—which can circumvent location-based restrictions by masking connections via another nation—more than doubled after 25 July.

Usage reached a high at more than 1.4 million in mid-August, up from around 650,000 people prior to the verification began. Subsequently, the regulator stated that VPN usage has since decreased, with current figures standing at approximately 900,000. It clarified that the level of daily VPN use is “much lower” than user numbers for pornography sites.

Young People Responding to Harmful Material

Elsewhere, the watchdog's annual study revealed that about 60% of teenagers aged 11 to 17 had taken action after encountering damaging content online. Actions ranged from flagging the material to the site to muting the person who shared it.

This research was conducted prior to new rules came into force that compel social media companies to prevent children from seeing harmful content, such as material related to self-harm and pornography. The most common way young people came across such content was by scrolling through a platform timeline, indicating that recommendation systems were serving harmful material.

Ministers Announce Examination of Pornography Laws

In a related development, the government announced it would examine the criminal law relating to pornography to consider whether it is effective in the ever-developing online world.

“The review will look into the effectiveness of the existing law in regarding criminalising, for example, harmful depictions of familial abuse and any types of pornography which promote child sexual abuse,” said a government official.

Campaigners Call For Tighter Online Controls

Campaigners for tighter control of online pornography have urged the government to outlaw so-called “barely legal” material. This encompasses content featuring incest scenes or that appears to promote abuse by casting young-looking performers portraying children.

Proposed changes to legislation seek to:

• Ban pornography where performers are impersonating children, often filmed in environments like children’s bedrooms.
• Extend the offence of making an indecent image of a child to include material where an adult plays the role of a child.
• Introduce stricter regulation on incest-themed pornography, which research suggests is heavily recommended by site systems.
• Introduce additional restrictions on “nudification” software, potentially making it an illegal act to own software designed to generate non-consensual nude images.
• Establish a new, independent oversight agency to perform inspections on adult platforms and act on reports of unlawful content.

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