UK Adult Content Traffic Declines After Identity Verifications, But VPN Usage Spikes, Reports Regulator

Visitor numbers to pornography platforms in the United Kingdom has fallen significantly after the enforcement of mandatory age verification this summer, according to the nation's communications regulator. At the same time, the usage of tools designed to circumvent these blocks has increased.

Sharp Fall in Visitor Figures After Rule Implementation

The enforcement of age vetting on 25 July resulted in an prompt decline in visits to leading pornography sites, including the top site in the UK. Data reveals that user traffic to this platform in August were 9.8 million, a decline of 1.5 million from the equivalent month in 2024.

In total, visitor numbers to the ten top pornography sites in the UK have now stabilized at a markedly decreased volume than prior to the end-of-July deadline. Later data shows this downward trend in viewing continued beyond August.

Surge in Virtual Private Network Usage to Evade Checks

Reacting to the new rules, use of VPN software—which can bypass location-based restrictions by masking connections via another country—more than doubled after 25 July.

User numbers peaked at over 1.4 million in the middle of August, rising from around 650,000 users prior to the verification began. However, the watchdog stated that VPN usage has afterwards steadily declined, with latest numbers at approximately 900,000. It added that the volume of regular VPN use remains “much lower” than user numbers for pornography services.

Young People Taking Action to Damaging Material

In other findings, the watchdog's annual study found that about 60% of teenagers aged 11 to 17 had taken action after encountering distressing content on the internet. Steps taken included reporting the content to the site to muting the person who shared it.

This survey was carried out before new rules came into force that compel social media companies to stop children from seeing harmful content, such as material related to self-harm and adult material. The most common way teenagers came across such content was by looking through a platform timeline, indicating that recommendation systems were serving harmful material.

Ministers Announce Examination of Pornography Laws

Separately, the ministers stated it would review the criminal law governing pornography to consider whether it is effective in the modern digital age.

“The examination will investigate the efficacy of the existing law in relation to criminalising, for example, damaging depictions of familial abuse and any types of pornography which encourage the abuse of children,” stated a government official.

Advocates Call For Tighter Online Regulations

Campaigners for better regulation of online pornography have urged the authorities to outlaw so-called “barely legal” material. This encompasses content featuring incest scenes or that encourages abuse by casting youthful adults portraying children.

Suggested changes to legislation aim to:

• Prohibit pornography where performers are mimicking children, sometimes recorded in settings like children’s bedrooms.
• Broaden the crime of creating an exploitative portrayal of a child to include material where an adult acts the part of a child.
• Introduce tighter controls on incest-themed pornography, which research indicates is often promoted by platform systems.
• Add additional controls on “nudification” software, potentially making it an illegal act to own tools designed to create non-consensual nude images.
• Create a new, separate regulatory body to conduct spot checks on pornography sites and respond to reports of unlawful content.

The advocates argue that these steps would ensure the protections that have been enforced for decades offline finally apply to the digital age.