UK Adult Content Site Visits Falls Following Age Verifications, But VPN Use Surges, States Watchdog
Access to pornography sites in the United Kingdom has fallen significantly since the enforcement of age-checking measures earlier this year, according to the nation's communications regulator. Simultaneously, the adoption of specialist software designed to circumvent these blocks has increased.
Immediate Fall in User Numbers After Rule Enforcement
The enforcement of age vetting on 25 July resulted in an prompt decline in traffic to popular online adult platforms, including the most visited site in the UK. Figures reveals that user traffic to this site in August were 9.8 million, a decline of 1.5 million compared to the same period in 2024.
Overall, visitor numbers to the ten top pornography sites in the UK have now settled at a significantly reduced level than before the late July deadline. Later analysis suggests this decline in viewing continued beyond August.
Surge in VPN Usage to Evade Checks
In response to the new rules, adoption of Virtual Private Networks (VPNs)—which can bypass location-based blocks by masking connections via another nation—surged following 25 July.
Usage reached a high at over 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 fallen back, with current figures 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
In other findings, the regulator's report revealed that about 60% of young people aged 11 to 17 had taken action after seeing damaging content on the internet. Actions included flagging the content to the site to blocking the person who posted it.
This research was carried out prior to new regulations took effect that require social media companies to prevent children from accessing harmful content, such as material related to suicide and pornography. The most common way young people came across such content was by looking through a social media timeline, indicating that recommendation systems were showing inappropriate material.
Ministers Announce Review of Adult Content Laws
Separately, the ministers stated it would review the criminal law governing pornography to assess whether it is effective in the ever-developing online world.
“The examination will investigate the efficacy of the existing law in regarding making illegal, among other things, damaging portrayals of familial abuse and any forms of pornography which encourage the abuse of children,” said a government official.
Campaigners Push For Tighter Digital Controls
Advocates for better regulation of adult content have called on the authorities to ban so-called “barely legal” material. This includes content featuring incest scenes or that encourages child sexual abuse by using youthful performers portraying children.
Proposed changes to legislation aim to:
- Ban pornography where performers are mimicking children, often recorded in environments like children’s bedrooms.
- Broaden the crime of creating an exploitative portrayal of a child to cover material where an older performer plays the role of a child.
- Apply tighter regulation on familial abuse pornography, which research suggests is often promoted by site systems.
- Introduce additional controls on “nudification” technology, potentially making it an offence to possess software designed to generate private images without permission.
- Create a new, independent regulatory body to conduct inspections on adult platforms and act on reports of illegal content.
The campaigners argue that these steps would ensure the safeguards that have been enforced for decades in the physical world finally apply to the digital age.