British Pornography Traffic Declines After Identity Verifications, Yet Virtual Private Network Usage Surges, States Watchdog

Access to adult content sites in the United Kingdom has decreased markedly after the roll-out of age-checking measures this summer, as reported by the nation's communications watchdog. At the same time, the usage of specialist software designed to bypass these restrictions has increased.

Immediate Drop in Visitor Numbers After Law Implementation

The introduction of age verification on 25 July caused an swift reduction in traffic to leading online adult platforms, including the most visited site in the UK. Data shows that visitor numbers to this site in August were 9.8 million, a drop 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 settled at a “lower level” than prior to the end-of-July deadline. Later analysis shows this downward trend in site visits persisted past August.

Sharp Increase in VPN Adoption to Bypass Restrictions

Reacting to the new rules, use of Virtual Private Networks (VPNs)—which can bypass geographic restrictions by masking internet traffic via another nation—surged following 25 July.

User numbers peaked at more than 1.4 million in the middle of August, rising from approximately 650,000 people before the checks were introduced. However, the regulator noted that VPN usage has afterwards steadily declined, with current numbers at approximately 900,000. It added that the volume of daily VPN use is “much lower” than traffic for pornography services.

Teenagers Taking Action to Harmful Online Content

Elsewhere, the regulator's report revealed that about 60% of teenagers aged 11 to 17 had taken action after encountering distressing content on the internet. Actions included reporting the content to the site to muting the person who posted it.

This survey was carried out before new rules came into force that compel platforms to prevent children from seeing harmful content, such as material related to self-harm and adult material. The most common way teenagers came across such content was by looking through a social media feed, suggesting that algorithms were showing inappropriate material.

Government Announce Review of Pornography Legislation

Separately, the government announced it would review the legislation governing pornography to consider whether it is adequate in the ever-developing online world.

“The examination will investigate the efficacy of the existing law in relation to criminalising, for example, damaging depictions of familial abuse and any types of pornography which promote the abuse of children,” said a justice minister.

Campaigners Call For Tighter Digital Controls

Advocates for better control of adult content have called on the authorities to outlaw so-called “barely legal” material. This includes content featuring simulated familial abuse or that appears to promote abuse by using young-looking adults portraying children.

Suggested amendments to government bills aim to:

• Prohibit pornography where performers are mimicking children, sometimes filmed in settings like children’s bedrooms.
• Broaden the offence of making an indecent image of a child to include material where an adult acts the part of a child.
• Introduce tighter regulation on familial abuse pornography, which research indicates is often promoted by site algorithms.
• Add additional restrictions on “nudification” technology, potentially making it an illegal act to possess tools designed to create private images without permission.
• Create a new, separate regulatory body to conduct spot checks on adult platforms and act on reports of illegal content.

The advocates argue that these steps would ensure the protections that have been enforced for decades offline finally are extended to the digital age.