British Adult Content Site Visits Falls Following Identity Verifications, Yet VPN Use Surges, Reports Regulator

Traffic to adult content websites in the United Kingdom has decreased markedly since the enforcement of age-checking measures this summer, as reported by the country's communications regulator. At the same time, the usage of specialist software designed to bypass these blocks has surged.

Immediate Fall in User Numbers After Law Enforcement

The enforcement of age vetting on 25 July resulted in an swift reduction in visits to major online adult platforms, such as the leading provider in the UK. Figures indicates that user traffic to this platform in August reached 9.8 million, a drop of 1.5 million from the same period in 2024.

Overall, visitor numbers to the 10 most-visited pornography sites in the UK have now stabilized at a significantly reduced level than prior to the late July implementation date. Later data shows this downward trend in site visits continued past August.

Sharp Increase in Virtual Private Network Adoption to Bypass Checks

In response to the new regulations, adoption of VPN software—which can circumvent geographic restrictions by routing connections through another nation—more than doubled following 25 July.

Usage peaked at over 1.4 million in mid-August, up from approximately 650,000 people prior to the checks were introduced. Subsequently, the watchdog noted that VPN usage has afterwards steadily declined, with current figures standing at approximately 900,000. It added that the volume of regular VPN use remains “much lower” than traffic for pornography services.

Young People Responding to Harmful Online Content

In other findings, the regulator's report revealed that about 60% of teenagers aged 11 to 17 had acted after encountering harmful content on the internet. Actions ranged from reporting the material to the platform to blocking the user who shared it.

This research was carried out before new rules took effect that require social media companies to prevent children from accessing harmful content, such as material related to self-harm and adult material. The most common way young people encountered such content was by looking through a social media feed, indicating that algorithms were serving harmful material.

Ministers Announce Examination of Pornography Legislation

In a related development, the government stated it would examine the criminal law governing pornography to assess whether it is effective in the modern digital age.

“The review will look into the effectiveness of the existing law in relation to making illegal, among other things, harmful portrayals of familial abuse and any forms of pornography which promote child sexual abuse,” said a justice minister.

Advocates Call For Stricter Online Regulations

Campaigners for tighter control of adult content have called on the government to outlaw so-called “barely legal” material. This includes content featuring incest scenes or that encourages child sexual abuse by using young-looking adults portraying children.

Suggested amendments to legislation aim to:

• Ban pornography where performers are mimicking children, sometimes recorded in settings like children’s bedrooms.
• Extend the crime of creating an indecent image of a child to include material where an older performer acts the part of a child.
• Introduce tighter regulation on familial abuse pornography, which research indicates is often promoted by site algorithms.
• Introduce further restrictions on “nudification” software, potentially making it an offence to possess tools designed to generate non-consensual nude images.
• Create a new, separate regulatory body to perform inspections on pornography sites and respond to complaints of unlawful content.

The campaigners contend that these steps would ensure the safeguards that have been enforced for decades offline finally are extended to the online sphere.