British Adult Content Site Visits Declines Following Age Checks, But Virtual Private Network Usage Spikes, Reports Watchdog

Traffic to pornography platforms in the UK has seen a notable drop since the roll-out of age-checking measures this summer, as reported by the country's communications watchdog. Simultaneously, the adoption of tools designed to bypass these barriers has risen.

Sharp Drop in User Numbers Following Law Enforcement

The enforcement of age vetting on 25 July caused an immediate reduction in traffic to leading online adult platforms, including the most visited provider in the UK. Figures indicates that user traffic to this site in August stood at 9.8 million, a decrease of 1.5 million from the same period in 2024.

Overall, visitor numbers to the ten most-visited pornography sites in the UK have now settled at a significantly reduced level than before the end-of-July implementation date. Later analysis indicates this slump in site visits persisted past August.

Sharp Increase in VPN Adoption to Bypass Restrictions

In response to the new rules, use of Virtual Private Networks (VPNs)—which can bypass geographic blocks by routing connections through another country—increased dramatically following 25 July.

Usage reached a high at over 1.4 million in mid-August, up from approximately 650,000 users before the verification were introduced. However, the watchdog noted that VPN usage has since fallen back, with current numbers at around 900,000. It added that the level of daily VPN use remains “much lower” than user numbers for adult services.

Teenagers Taking Action to Harmful Online Content

Elsewhere, the regulator's report revealed that about 60% of young people aged 11 to 17 had acted after seeing harmful content online. Steps taken ranged from flagging the content to the site to blocking the user who shared it.

This survey was carried out before new rules took effect that compel platforms to stop children from accessing dangerous content, such as material related to self-harm and adult material. The primary way young people came across such content was by looking through a platform feed, suggesting that algorithms were showing harmful material.

Ministers Launch Examination of Adult Content Laws

In a related development, the ministers announced it would examine the legislation relating to pornography to assess whether it is adequate in the modern digital age.

“The review will investigate the effectiveness of the current law in regarding making illegal, among other things, damaging depictions of familial abuse and any types of pornography which encourage child sexual abuse,” stated a justice minister.

Campaigners Call For Tighter Online Controls

Campaigners for tighter regulation of adult content have urged the government to ban so-called “barely legal” material. This encompasses content featuring simulated familial abuse or that appears to promote abuse by using young-looking performers dressed as children.

Proposed amendments to legislation seek to:

• Prohibit pornography where adults are mimicking children, often filmed in environments like children’s bedrooms.
• Extend the offence of making an indecent image of a child to cover material where an adult plays the role of a child.
• Introduce stricter regulation on familial abuse pornography, which studies suggests is often promoted by site systems.
• Add additional controls on “nudification” technology, potentially making it an offence to own software designed to create private images without permission.
• Create a new, separate regulatory body to perform spot checks on pornography sites and act on complaints of illegal content.

The advocates contend that these measures would ensure the protections that have existed for years in the physical world finally apply to the digital age.