UK Adult Content Traffic Falls After Age Verifications, But Virtual Private Network Use Surges, Reports Watchdog

Access to pornography sites in the UK has decreased markedly since the roll-out of age-checking measures earlier this year, according to the country's communications authority. Concurrently, the adoption of tools designed to dodge these restrictions has increased.

Sharp Fall in User Figures After Rule Enforcement

The introduction of age verification on 25 July resulted in an prompt fall in traffic to leading online adult platforms, including the most visited provider in the UK. Data shows that user traffic to this platform in August reached 9.8 million, a decrease of 1.5 million from the same period in 2024.

In total, visitor numbers to the 10 most-visited adult services in the UK have now stabilized at a markedly decreased volume than prior to the end-of-July implementation date. Subsequent analysis shows this slump in viewing continued beyond August.

Sharp Increase in Virtual Private Network Usage to Bypass Checks

Reacting to the new rules, use of Virtual Private Networks (VPNs)—which can bypass location-based restrictions by masking connections via another nation—more than doubled after 25 July.

User numbers reached a high at over 1.4 million in mid-August, up from approximately 650,000 people prior to the verification began. However, the watchdog stated that VPN usage has since fallen back, with latest figures at approximately 900,000. It added that the level of daily VPN use remains “much lower” than traffic for pornography services.

Teenagers Responding to Harmful Material

In other findings, the watchdog's annual study revealed that about 60% of young people aged 11 to 17 had taken action after encountering damaging content on the internet. Steps taken ranged from flagging the material to the site to blocking the user who shared it.

This survey was conducted prior to new regulations came into force that require social media companies to prevent children from accessing harmful 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 feed, indicating that recommendation systems were serving harmful material.

Ministers Announce Review of Adult Content Legislation

Separately, the government announced it would examine the criminal law governing pornography to assess whether it is adequate in the modern online world.

“The examination will look into the effectiveness of the existing law in regarding criminalising, for example, damaging portrayals of familial abuse and any forms of pornography which promote child sexual abuse,” stated a justice minister.

Advocates Push For Tighter Online Controls

Advocates for tighter control of online pornography have urged the authorities to ban so-called “barely legal” material. This encompasses content featuring incest scenes or that encourages abuse by casting youthful performers portraying children.

Proposed changes to legislation seek to:

• Ban pornography where performers are mimicking children, often recorded in environments like children’s bedrooms.
• Broaden the offence of creating an indecent image of a child to include material where an adult plays the role of a child.
• Apply tighter regulation on incest-themed pornography, which research suggests is often promoted by site algorithms.
• Introduce further restrictions on “nudification” technology, potentially making it an illegal act to own tools designed to create private images without permission.
• Establish a new, independent regulatory body to perform spot checks on pornography sites and act on reports of illegal content.

The campaigners argue that these measures would ensure the safeguards that have existed for decades offline finally are extended to the digital age.