British Adult Content Traffic Falls After Age Verifications, But VPN Usage Surges, Reports Regulator

Traffic to pornography sites in the UK has decreased markedly after the enforcement of age-checking measures this summer, as reported by the country's communications regulator. At the same time, the use of tools designed to circumvent these restrictions has increased.

Immediate Drop in Visitor Numbers Following Rule Implementation

The introduction of age vetting on 25 July led to an immediate fall in traffic to major pornography sites, such as the top provider in the UK. Figures reveals that visitor numbers to this platform in August stood at 9.8 million, a decrease of 1.5 million compared to the equivalent month in 2024.

Overall, visitor numbers to the 10 top adult services in the UK have now settled at a significantly reduced level than before the end-of-July deadline. Later data indicates this slump in site visits persisted beyond August.

Surge in Virtual Private Network Usage to Bypass Restrictions

Reacting to the new rules, use of VPN software—which can bypass geographic restrictions by masking connections through another country—surged following 25 July.

Usage reached a high at over 1.4 million in mid-August, up from approximately 650,000 users before the verification began. However, the regulator stated that VPN usage has since decreased, with current numbers at around 900,000. It added that the level of regular VPN use is “much lower” than user numbers for adult sites.

Young People Taking Action to Harmful Online Content

In other findings, the regulator's report revealed that about 60% of teenagers aged 11 to 17 had acted after seeing harmful content on the internet. Actions ranged from flagging the content to the site to muting the person who posted it.

This survey was carried out prior to new regulations took effect that compel social media companies to prevent children from seeing harmful content, including material related to suicide and pornography. The most common way young people came across such content was by looking through a social media timeline, indicating that algorithms were showing inappropriate material.

Government Announce Examination of Adult Content Legislation

Separately, the government announced it would examine the criminal law governing pornography to consider whether it is “fit for purpose” in the modern online world.

“The review will look into the effectiveness of the current law in relation to criminalising, among other things, damaging depictions of familial abuse and any types of pornography which encourage child sexual abuse,” stated a government official.

Advocates Call For Stricter Digital Controls

Advocates for tighter control of online pornography 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 performers portraying children.

Proposed amendments to government bills aim to:

• Ban pornography where adults are impersonating children, often recorded in settings like children’s bedrooms.
• Extend the crime of making an indecent image of a child to include material where an older performer plays the role of a child.
• Introduce tighter controls on incest-themed pornography, which research suggests is often promoted by site systems.
• Introduce further restrictions on “nudification” technology, potentially making it an illegal act to possess software designed to generate private images without permission.
• Create a new, separate regulatory body to perform spot checks on pornography sites and act on complaints of unlawful content.

The advocates contend that these measures would ensure the protections that have been enforced for years offline finally are extended to the digital age.