British Adult Content Traffic Falls After Age Verifications, But VPN Use Spikes, States Regulator

Access to pornography websites in the United Kingdom has decreased markedly since the roll-out of mandatory age verification earlier this year, as reported by the country's communications watchdog. Simultaneously, the usage of tools designed to bypass these barriers has surged.

Immediate Fall in Visitor Numbers Following Rule Enforcement

The introduction of age vetting on 25 July led to an swift decline in visits to major pornography sites, including the leading site in the UK. Figures reveals that visitor numbers to this site in August were 9.8 million, a decrease of 1.5 million compared to the equivalent month in 2024.

In total, traffic to the ten most-visited pornography sites in the UK have now stabilized at a “lower level” than prior to the end-of-July deadline. Later analysis shows this decline in site visits persisted past August.

Sharp Increase in VPN Adoption to Bypass Restrictions

Reacting to the new regulations, adoption of Virtual Private Networks (VPNs)—which can bypass location-based blocks by routing connections via another nation—more than doubled following 25 July.

Usage reached a high at more than 1.4 million in the middle of August, rising from around 650,000 people prior to the verification began. Subsequently, the regulator stated that VPN usage has since decreased, with current figures at around 900,000. It added that the level of regular VPN use is “much lower” than traffic for pornography sites.

Young People Taking Action to Harmful Material

In other findings, the watchdog's report revealed that about 60% of young people aged 11 to 17 had taken action after seeing distressing content on the internet. Actions included flagging the material to the platform to blocking the user who shared it.

This research was carried out before new rules came into force that require platforms to stop children from seeing harmful content, such as material related to self-harm and adult material. The most common way teenagers encountered such content was by scrolling through a platform feed, suggesting that algorithms were serving harmful material.

Government Launch Examination of Adult Content Laws

Separately, the government announced it would examine the legislation governing pornography to consider whether it is effective in the ever-developing digital age.

“The review will investigate the effectiveness of the current law in relation to making illegal, among other things, harmful depictions of familial abuse and any types of pornography which promote the abuse of children,” said a justice minister.

Campaigners Push For Tighter Digital Regulations

Campaigners for tighter regulation of adult content have called on the government to ban so-called “barely legal” material. This includes content featuring simulated familial abuse or that encourages abuse by using youthful performers dressed as children.

Suggested amendments to government bills aim to:

• Ban pornography where performers are mimicking children, sometimes recorded in settings like children’s bedrooms.
• Extend the crime of creating an exploitative portrayal of a child to cover material where an adult plays the role of a child.
• Apply stricter controls on incest-themed pornography, which studies suggests is heavily recommended by site systems.
• Introduce further controls on “nudification” software, potentially making it an offence to possess tools designed to create non-consensual nude images.
• Establish a new, separate regulatory body to conduct spot checks on pornography sites and respond to complaints of unlawful content.

The campaigners argue that these steps would ensure the protections that have existed for years in the physical world finally are extended to the digital age.