British Adult Content Site Visits Declines After Age Verifications, But VPN Use Spikes, States Watchdog
Traffic to pornography platforms in the UK has fallen significantly since the introduction of age-checking measures this summer, according to the nation's communications authority. At the same time, the usage of specialist software designed to circumvent these barriers has increased.
Immediate Drop in Visitor Numbers Following Law Implementation
The enforcement of age vetting on 25 July led to an swift fall in visits to major online adult platforms, such as the top site in the UK. Data reveals that user traffic to this site in August stood at 9.8 million, a drop of 1.5 million compared to the equivalent month in 2024.
In total, traffic to the ten top pornography sites in the UK have now stabilized at a significantly reduced level than prior to the late July implementation date. Subsequent data shows this decline in site visits persisted past August.
Sharp Increase in Virtual Private Network Usage to Evade Restrictions
Reacting to the new regulations, use of VPN software—which can bypass location-based blocks by routing internet traffic through another country—increased dramatically after 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 watchdog stated that VPN usage has since steadily declined, with latest numbers standing at around 900,000. It clarified that the volume of daily VPN use remains “much lower” than traffic for adult services.
Young People Taking Action to Harmful Material
Elsewhere, the regulator's report found that about 60% of young people aged 11 to 17 had acted after encountering distressing content online. Steps taken ranged from flagging the material to the platform to blocking the person who shared it.
This survey was conducted before new regulations took effect that compel platforms to stop 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 platform feed, indicating that recommendation systems were showing harmful material.
Ministers Announce Review of Adult Content Legislation
Separately, the ministers announced it would examine the legislation governing pornography to consider whether it is “fit for purpose” in the modern digital age.
“The review will look into the effectiveness of the current law in relation to making illegal, for example, damaging depictions of familial abuse and any types of pornography which promote child sexual abuse,” stated a justice minister.
Advocates Call For Stricter Digital Regulations
Campaigners for better control of online pornography have called on the government to outlaw so-called “barely legal” material. This includes content featuring incest scenes or that appears to promote child sexual abuse by using youthful adults portraying children.
Suggested changes to government bills seek to:
- Prohibit pornography where adults are impersonating children, sometimes recorded in settings like children’s bedrooms.
- Broaden the crime of making an exploitative portrayal of a child to include material where an adult acts the part of a child.
- Apply tighter regulation on familial abuse pornography, which studies indicates is heavily recommended by platform algorithms.
- Add additional restrictions on “nudification” software, potentially making it an illegal act to possess tools designed to generate private images without permission.
- Establish a new, separate regulatory body to perform inspections on pornography sites and respond to complaints of unlawful content.
The campaigners argue that these measures would ensure the safeguards that have been enforced for decades in the physical world finally are extended to the digital age.
