UK Pornography Traffic Declines Following Identity Checks, Yet VPN Use Surges, States Regulator

Access to adult content sites in the UK has fallen significantly since the roll-out of mandatory age verification this summer, as reported by the country's communications watchdog. Simultaneously, the usage of specialist software designed to bypass these barriers has risen.

Sharp Fall in Visitor Numbers After Rule Implementation

The enforcement of age vetting on 25 July resulted in an immediate reduction in visits to popular online adult platforms, such as the most visited provider in the UK. Figures reveals that visitor numbers to this platform in August stood at 9.8 million, a decline of 1.5 million from the same period in 2024.

Overall, traffic to the ten top pornography sites in the UK have now stabilized at a “lower level” than prior to the late July implementation date. Later analysis shows this decline in site visits continued past August.

Surge in Virtual Private Network Usage to Bypass Checks

In response to the new rules, adoption of VPN software—which can bypass location-based restrictions by routing connections through another country—surged following 25 July.

Usage peaked at over 1.4 million in mid-August, up from around 650,000 users before the verification were introduced. Subsequently, the regulator stated that VPN usage has afterwards fallen back, with latest figures at approximately 900,000. It added that the volume of daily VPN use is “much lower” than user numbers for adult services.

Teenagers Taking Action to Harmful Material

Elsewhere, the watchdog's annual study revealed that about 60% of teenagers aged 11 to 17 had taken action after encountering harmful content online. Actions included reporting the content to the platform to muting the user who shared it.

This survey was conducted before new regulations came into force that compel platforms to prevent children from seeing harmful content, such as material related to suicide and pornography. The most common way young people came across such content was by scrolling through a social media feed, indicating that algorithms were serving inappropriate material.

Government Announce Examination of Adult Content Laws

Separately, the government stated it would examine the criminal law relating to pornography to assess whether it is “fit for purpose” in the modern digital age.

“The review will investigate the effectiveness of the current law in regarding making illegal, among other things, harmful depictions of familial abuse and any types of pornography which promote child sexual abuse,” stated a government official.

Campaigners Call For Tighter Digital Regulations

Campaigners for better control of adult content have urged the authorities to outlaw so-called “barely legal” material. This includes content featuring incest scenes or that appears to promote abuse by using youthful performers dressed as children.

Proposed changes to government bills seek to:

• Ban pornography where adults are mimicking children, often filmed in environments like children’s bedrooms.
• Broaden the crime of making an indecent image of a child to include material where an older performer plays the role of a child.
• Apply stricter regulation on familial abuse pornography, which studies suggests is heavily recommended by site algorithms.
• Introduce additional restrictions on “nudification” software, potentially making it an illegal act to own software designed to generate private images without permission.
• Establish a new, separate oversight agency to perform spot checks on adult platforms and act on reports of illegal content.

The advocates contend that these measures would ensure the protections that have existed for decades offline finally are extended to the online sphere.