British Adult Content Traffic Declines After Age Verifications, Yet Virtual Private Network Usage Spikes, Reports Watchdog

Access to adult content sites in the UK has seen a notable drop since the enforcement of age-checking measures earlier this year, according to the nation's communications regulator. Simultaneously, the adoption of tools designed to dodge these barriers has increased.

Sharp Fall in Visitor Figures After Law Enforcement

The introduction of age vetting on 25 July caused an immediate reduction in traffic to popular pornography sites, such as the leading site in the UK. Figures shows 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, visitor numbers to the ten most-visited adult services in the UK have now settled at a significantly reduced level than before the late July deadline. Subsequent analysis suggests this downward trend in site visits persisted beyond August.

Surge in VPN Usage to Evade Restrictions

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

Usage peaked at over 1.4 million in the middle of August, up from approximately 650,000 users prior to the verification were introduced. However, the watchdog stated that VPN usage has since fallen back, with current figures standing at around 900,000. It added that the volume of regular VPN use is “much lower” than traffic for pornography services.

Teenagers Taking Action to Damaging Material

In other findings, the watchdog's annual study found that about 60% of teenagers aged 11 to 17 had taken action after seeing harmful content online. Actions included flagging the material to the platform to blocking the person who posted it.

This survey was conducted before new rules took effect that require platforms to stop children from seeing harmful content, including material related to self-harm and adult material. The most common way teenagers encountered such content was by looking through a platform feed, indicating that recommendation systems were showing inappropriate material.

Government Announce Review of Adult Content Laws

Separately, the ministers announced it would review the legislation relating to pornography to consider whether it is “fit for purpose” in the ever-developing digital age.

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

Campaigners Call For Stricter Online Controls

Campaigners for better regulation of adult content have urged the authorities to outlaw so-called “barely legal” material. This encompasses content featuring simulated familial abuse or that encourages child sexual abuse by casting youthful performers portraying children.

Proposed changes to government bills aim to:

• Ban pornography where performers are mimicking children, sometimes recorded in environments like children’s bedrooms.
• Extend the crime of creating an exploitative portrayal of a child to cover material where an older performer plays the role of a child.
• Introduce tighter regulation on familial abuse pornography, which research suggests is often promoted by platform systems.
• Introduce additional controls on “nudification” software, potentially making it an offence to own tools designed to create private images without permission.
• Establish a new, independent oversight agency to conduct inspections on adult platforms and respond to complaints of unlawful content.

The campaigners argue that these steps would ensure the safeguards that have been enforced for years offline finally apply to the online sphere.