British Adult Content Site Visits Falls After Identity Verifications, Yet VPN Use Spikes, Reports Watchdog

Traffic to pornography platforms in the United Kingdom has fallen significantly since the enforcement of age-checking measures earlier this year, according to the country's communications regulator. At the same time, the use of tools designed to bypass these blocks has risen.

Sharp Drop in Visitor Numbers Following Law Enforcement

The enforcement of age verification on 25 July caused an swift reduction in visits to major pornography sites, including the most visited provider in the UK. Data indicates that user traffic to this platform in August were 9.8 million, a decline of 1.5 million from the same period in 2024.

Overall, visitor numbers to the 10 top adult services in the UK have now stabilized at a markedly decreased volume than before the end-of-July implementation date. Later analysis indicates this slump in site visits persisted beyond August.

Sharp Increase in Virtual Private Network Adoption to Evade Restrictions

In response to the new regulations, use of Virtual Private Networks (VPNs)—which can circumvent geographic restrictions by masking internet traffic via another country—increased dramatically after 25 July.

Usage peaked at over 1.4 million in mid-August, up from approximately 650,000 people before the verification began. However, the regulator noted that VPN usage has since fallen back, with current numbers standing at approximately 900,000. It clarified that the volume of regular VPN use remains “much lower” than user numbers for pornography services.

Young People Responding to Damaging Online Content

In other findings, the regulator's annual study found that about 60% of teenagers aged 11 to 17 had acted after encountering harmful content online. Actions ranged from reporting the content to the platform to muting the person who posted it.

This survey was conducted before new rules took effect that compel social media companies to stop children from seeing dangerous content, including material related to self-harm and adult material. The primary way teenagers came across such content was by scrolling through a social media timeline, suggesting that recommendation systems were serving harmful material.

Ministers Announce Examination of Pornography Legislation

In a related development, the government stated it would review the legislation governing pornography to assess whether it is adequate in the ever-developing digital age.

“The examination will investigate the effectiveness of the existing law in relation to criminalising, for example, damaging portrayals of incest and any types of pornography which encourage child sexual abuse,” stated a justice minister.

Advocates Push For Tighter Digital Controls

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

Suggested changes to government bills seek to:

• Prohibit pornography where performers are impersonating children, often recorded in settings like children’s bedrooms.
• Extend the crime of creating an exploitative portrayal of a child to cover material where an adult plays the role of a child.
• Introduce tighter regulation on incest-themed pornography, which research suggests is heavily recommended by platform systems.
• Add additional restrictions on “nudification” software, potentially making it an illegal act to possess software designed to create private images without permission.
• Create a new, separate regulatory body to perform inspections on pornography sites and act on reports of unlawful content.

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