British Pornography Site Visits Falls Following Age Verifications, But VPN Usage Spikes, Reports Regulator

Access to adult content sites in the UK has decreased markedly after the introduction of age-checking measures this summer, according to the country's communications authority. Concurrently, the use of tools designed to bypass these blocks has risen.

Immediate Drop in User Numbers Following Rule Implementation

The introduction of age vetting on 25 July caused an immediate fall in visits to major online adult platforms, including the leading provider in the UK. Data shows that user traffic to this platform in August stood at 9.8 million, a drop of 1.5 million from the same period in 2024.

Overall, visitor numbers to the 10 most-visited adult services in the UK have now settled at a markedly decreased volume than prior to the end-of-July deadline. Subsequent analysis indicates this slump in viewing continued past August.

Sharp Increase in VPN Adoption to Bypass Restrictions

In response to the new regulations, use of Virtual Private Networks (VPNs)—which can circumvent location-based blocks by masking internet traffic through another country—surged after 25 July.

User numbers reached a high at over 1.4 million in the middle of August, up from around 650,000 people before the verification were introduced. Subsequently, the regulator stated that VPN usage has afterwards steadily declined, with current figures standing at around 900,000. It clarified that the level of regular VPN use remains “much lower” than traffic for pornography sites.

Teenagers Taking Action to Damaging Online Content

In other findings, the regulator's report found that about 60% of young people aged 11 to 17 had acted after seeing harmful content online. Actions ranged from flagging the content to the site to muting the person who shared it.

This research was conducted before new rules took effect that require platforms to prevent children from accessing dangerous content, including material related to self-harm and adult material. The most common way teenagers encountered such content was by looking through a platform feed, indicating that algorithms were serving inappropriate material.

Ministers Announce Examination of Adult Content Legislation

In a related development, the government announced it would examine the criminal law relating to pornography to consider whether it is adequate in the ever-developing online world.

“The examination will look into the effectiveness of the current law in relation to criminalising, for example, damaging depictions of familial abuse and any forms of pornography which promote child sexual abuse,” stated a government official.

Campaigners Push For Tighter Online Controls

Advocates for better regulation of adult content have urged the authorities to ban so-called “barely legal” material. This includes content featuring incest scenes or that encourages abuse by using youthful adults portraying children.

Proposed amendments to legislation seek to:

• Ban pornography where adults are impersonating children, sometimes recorded in settings like children’s bedrooms.
• Broaden the crime of creating an indecent image of a child to include material where an adult acts the part of a child.
• Apply stricter controls on familial abuse pornography, which studies suggests is heavily recommended by platform systems.
• Introduce additional controls on “nudification” technology, potentially making it an offence to possess software designed to create private images without permission.
• Create a new, separate regulatory body to perform spot checks on pornography sites and respond to reports of unlawful content.

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