British Adult Content Site Visits Falls After Age Checks, But VPN Usage Surges, States Regulator

Access to pornography websites in the United Kingdom has seen a notable drop after the introduction of mandatory age verification earlier this year, according to the country's communications regulator. At the same time, the use of tools designed to dodge these barriers has risen.

Sharp Fall in Visitor Figures Following Rule Implementation

The introduction of age vetting on 25 July caused an swift decline in traffic to popular online adult platforms, including the most visited site in the UK. Figures indicates that visitor numbers to this site in August stood at 9.8 million, a decline of 1.5 million compared to the same period in 2024.

In total, traffic to the 10 most-visited adult services in the UK have now stabilized at a significantly reduced level than before the end-of-July implementation date. Subsequent data suggests this decline in viewing continued beyond August.

Sharp Increase in VPN Adoption to Evade Checks

Reacting to the new rules, use of VPN software—which can circumvent geographic blocks by routing internet traffic via another nation—surged following 25 July.

Usage reached a high at more than 1.4 million in mid-August, up from around 650,000 users prior to the verification were introduced. Subsequently, the regulator noted that VPN usage has since fallen back, with latest numbers standing at around 900,000. It clarified that the volume of daily VPN use is “much lower” than traffic for pornography sites.

Teenagers Taking Action to Harmful Material

In other findings, the watchdog's annual study found that about 60% of young people aged 11 to 17 had taken action after encountering distressing content on the internet. Actions included flagging the content to the platform to muting the person who posted it.

This survey was carried out prior to new rules took effect that require social media companies to stop children from seeing harmful content, such as material related to self-harm and adult material. The most common way young people came across such content was by looking through a social media feed, suggesting that algorithms were showing inappropriate material.

Ministers Launch Review of Pornography Laws

In a related development, the ministers announced it would review the criminal law governing pornography to consider whether it is adequate in the modern digital age.

“The review will investigate the effectiveness of the existing law in relation to making illegal, among other things, harmful depictions of incest and any forms of pornography which encourage the abuse of children,” said a government official.

Campaigners Call For Tighter Digital Regulations

Advocates for tighter regulation of adult content have called on the authorities to ban so-called “barely legal” material. This encompasses content featuring simulated familial abuse or that appears to promote abuse by casting youthful performers portraying children.

Suggested amendments to legislation aim to:

• Ban pornography where performers are mimicking children, sometimes filmed in settings like children’s bedrooms.
• Broaden the offence of making an indecent image of a child to include material where an older performer plays the role of a child.
• Apply tighter controls on familial abuse pornography, which research indicates is heavily recommended by site algorithms.
• Add further controls on “nudification” technology, potentially making it an illegal act to own tools designed to generate private images without permission.
• Create a new, separate oversight agency to conduct spot checks on pornography sites and act on complaints of illegal content.

The campaigners contend that these measures would ensure the safeguards that have existed for years offline finally apply to the online sphere.