British Adult Content Traffic Falls Following Age Verifications, Yet VPN Usage Surges, Reports Watchdog

Access to pornography sites in the UK has decreased markedly since the enforcement of age-checking measures earlier this year, as reported by the country's communications regulator. At the same time, the use of tools designed to dodge these restrictions has surged.

Immediate Drop in Visitor Figures After Rule Implementation

The enforcement of age vetting on 25 July led to an immediate reduction in visits to popular pornography sites, including the most visited site in the UK. Figures indicates that visitor numbers to this site in August reached 9.8 million, a decrease of 1.5 million from the equivalent month in 2024.

In total, traffic to the 10 top adult services in the UK have now settled at a “lower level” than before the late July implementation date. Later analysis suggests this slump in site visits continued beyond August.

Sharp Increase in VPN Usage to Bypass Restrictions

Reacting to the new regulations, adoption of VPN software—which can bypass geographic blocks by masking internet traffic via another country—more than doubled after 25 July.

Usage reached a high at over 1.4 million in the middle of August, up from approximately 650,000 users before the checks were introduced. Subsequently, the regulator noted that VPN usage has afterwards fallen back, with current numbers standing at around 900,000. It clarified that the volume of regular VPN use remains “much lower” than traffic for pornography sites.

Teenagers Responding to Harmful Material

Elsewhere, the regulator's annual study found that about 60% of young people aged 11 to 17 had acted after encountering harmful content on the internet. Actions included flagging the material to the site to blocking the person who posted it.

This research was conducted prior to new rules took effect that compel platforms to prevent children from seeing harmful content, including material related to suicide and adult material. The most common way young people encountered such content was by looking through a social media timeline, suggesting that algorithms were showing harmful material.

Ministers Launch Examination of Adult Content Laws

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

“The review will look into the efficacy of the current law in relation to making illegal, for example, damaging depictions of familial abuse and any forms of pornography which encourage the abuse of children,” stated a government official.

Advocates Call For Tighter Online Controls

Advocates for better regulation of adult content have urged the government to ban so-called “barely legal” material. This encompasses content featuring incest scenes or that encourages child sexual abuse by using young-looking performers portraying children.

Suggested amendments to legislation aim to:

• Prohibit pornography where adults are mimicking children, sometimes recorded in settings 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 familial abuse pornography, which studies indicates is often promoted by platform algorithms.
• Add additional restrictions on “nudification” technology, potentially making it an offence to possess software designed to create non-consensual nude images.
• Establish a new, independent regulatory body to conduct inspections on pornography sites and respond to reports of illegal content.

The campaigners contend that these measures would ensure the protections that have existed for years in the physical world finally apply to the online sphere.