UK Adult Content Traffic Declines Following Age Checks, Yet Virtual Private Network Use Spikes, States Watchdog

Access to adult content sites in the UK has fallen significantly after the enforcement of mandatory age verification earlier this year, as reported by the country's communications regulator. Simultaneously, the usage of tools designed to circumvent these blocks has risen.

Sharp Drop in Visitor Figures After Rule Enforcement

The introduction of age verification on 25 July caused an prompt fall in traffic to major pornography sites, including the most visited site in the UK. Data indicates that user traffic to this site in August were 9.8 million, a drop of 1.5 million from the same period in 2024.

In total, traffic to the ten top adult services in the UK have now settled at a “lower level” than prior to the late July deadline. Subsequent data suggests this decline in site visits continued past August.

Surge in Virtual Private Network Adoption to Evade Checks

Reacting to the new rules, use of VPN software—which can get around location-based blocks by routing connections through another country—surged after 25 July.

Usage peaked at over 1.4 million in mid-August, up from around 650,000 users before the verification began. Subsequently, the regulator noted that VPN usage has afterwards fallen back, with current figures at around 900,000. It added that the level of regular VPN use remains “much lower” than user numbers for pornography sites.

Young People Taking Action to Harmful Material

In other findings, the watchdog's annual study revealed that about 60% of teenagers aged 11 to 17 had taken action after encountering harmful content on the internet. Steps taken included reporting the material to the site to blocking the person who posted it.

This research was conducted before new rules took effect that require social media companies to stop children from accessing dangerous content, including material related to self-harm and adult material. The most common way young people encountered such content was by looking through a social media feed, suggesting that recommendation systems were showing harmful material.

Ministers Launch Review of Pornography Legislation

In a related development, the government announced it would examine the criminal law governing pornography to assess whether it is effective in the ever-developing online world.

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

Campaigners Push For Tighter Digital Controls

Campaigners for tighter regulation of online pornography have urged the government to ban so-called “barely legal” material. This encompasses content featuring incest scenes or that appears to promote abuse by casting young-looking performers portraying children.

Proposed changes to government bills aim to:

• Ban pornography where performers are mimicking children, often recorded in settings like children’s bedrooms.
• Extend the crime of creating an exploitative portrayal of a child to include material where an older performer plays the role of a child.
• Introduce stricter controls on familial abuse pornography, which studies indicates is heavily recommended by platform systems.
• Add further controls on “nudification” technology, potentially making it an offence to own tools designed to create private images without permission.
• Create a new, independent regulatory body to perform spot checks on pornography sites and respond to reports of unlawful content.

The advocates contend that these measures would ensure the safeguards that have been enforced for decades offline finally apply to the online sphere.