British Adult Content Site Visits Falls After Age Verifications, But VPN Usage Surges, States Watchdog

Traffic to pornography platforms in the UK has decreased markedly after the introduction of mandatory age verification this summer, as reported by the country's communications authority. Concurrently, the usage of specialist software designed to dodge these blocks has risen.

Immediate Fall in Visitor Numbers After Law Enforcement

The introduction of age verification on 25 July resulted in an immediate decline in visits to major pornography sites, such as the leading provider in the UK. Data indicates that visitor numbers to this platform in August stood at 9.8 million, a decline of 1.5 million compared to the same period in 2024.

In total, visitor numbers to the ten top pornography sites in the UK have now stabilized at a “lower level” than before the late July implementation date. Later analysis shows this slump in site visits continued past August.

Surge in Virtual Private Network Usage to Evade Checks

Reacting to the new rules, adoption of VPN software—which can circumvent geographic restrictions by routing connections through another country—surged after 25 July.

User numbers reached a high at more than 1.4 million in mid-August, up from around 650,000 users before the verification were introduced. Subsequently, the watchdog stated that VPN usage has since steadily declined, with latest numbers at around 900,000. It added that the volume of daily VPN use is “much lower” than user numbers for adult sites.

Young People Responding to Damaging Online Content

Elsewhere, the regulator's report found that about 60% of young people aged 11 to 17 had taken action after encountering damaging content on the internet. Actions included flagging the content to the site to blocking the user who posted it.

This survey was conducted before new regulations came into force that compel platforms to stop children from accessing harmful content, including material related to self-harm and pornography. The primary way young people encountered such content was by looking through a platform timeline, indicating that algorithms were showing inappropriate material.

Government Launch Examination of Pornography Legislation

Separately, the ministers 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 efficacy of the current law in regarding making illegal, among other things, harmful portrayals of incest and any types of pornography which encourage child sexual abuse,” said a justice minister.

Campaigners Call For Tighter Online Regulations

Campaigners for better control of adult content have urged the government to outlaw so-called “barely legal” material. This encompasses content featuring incest scenes or that appears to promote abuse by using youthful performers dressed as children.

Proposed amendments to legislation aim to:

• Ban pornography where adults are mimicking children, sometimes filmed in environments like children’s bedrooms.
• Extend the offence of creating an indecent image of a child to include material where an adult plays the role of a child.
• Introduce tighter regulation on incest-themed pornography, which research suggests is heavily recommended by platform systems.
• Introduce further restrictions on “nudification” software, potentially making it an offence to own tools designed to generate private images without permission.
• Establish a new, independent oversight agency to conduct spot checks on adult platforms and act on complaints of illegal content.

The campaigners argue that these steps would ensure the safeguards that have been enforced for years in the physical world finally are extended to the online sphere.