British Adult Content Site Visits Falls After Identity Verifications, But VPN Use Surges, States Watchdog

Traffic to adult content sites in the UK has fallen significantly after the introduction of age-checking measures earlier this year, as reported by the nation's communications watchdog. Concurrently, the adoption of tools designed to dodge these blocks has increased.

Sharp Fall in User Figures Following Rule Implementation

The introduction of age vetting on 25 July caused an prompt decline in visits to popular pornography sites, including the leading provider in the UK. Figures shows that visitor numbers to this platform in August were 9.8 million, a decline of 1.5 million compared to the equivalent month in 2024.

Overall, traffic to the 10 most-visited adult services in the UK have now settled at a markedly decreased volume than prior to the end-of-July deadline. Subsequent data suggests this decline in site visits continued beyond August.

Sharp Increase in Virtual Private Network Usage to Bypass Restrictions

In response to the new rules, use of Virtual Private Networks (VPNs)—which can circumvent geographic restrictions by routing connections through another country—more than doubled after 25 July.

User numbers peaked at more than 1.4 million in mid-August, rising from approximately 650,000 users prior to the verification were introduced. Subsequently, the watchdog noted that VPN usage has since fallen back, with latest numbers at around 900,000. It added that the level of daily VPN use remains “much lower” than traffic for pornography sites.

Teenagers Taking Action to Harmful Online Content

In other findings, the watchdog's report found that about 60% of teenagers aged 11 to 17 had acted after seeing harmful content online. Actions included flagging the material to the site to muting the user who shared it.

This research was conducted prior to new rules took effect that compel social media companies to prevent children from seeing harmful content, such as material related to self-harm and adult material. The most common way young people encountered such content was by looking through a platform timeline, suggesting that algorithms were serving harmful material.

Government Announce Examination of Pornography Laws

In a related development, the ministers stated it would review the criminal law relating to pornography to assess whether it is adequate in the ever-developing online world.

“The review will investigate the effectiveness of the existing law in relation to making illegal, for example, damaging depictions of incest and any types of pornography which promote child sexual abuse,” said a government official.

Advocates Push For Tighter Digital Regulations

Advocates for tighter regulation of adult content have called on the government to outlaw so-called “barely legal” material. This encompasses content featuring simulated familial abuse or that appears to promote abuse by using youthful adults portraying children.

Proposed changes to legislation seek to:

• Prohibit pornography where performers are mimicking children, sometimes recorded in settings like children’s bedrooms.
• Extend the offence of creating an indecent image of a child to cover material where an adult plays the role of a child.
• Apply tighter regulation on incest-themed pornography, which studies suggests is heavily recommended by site systems.
• Introduce further controls on “nudification” technology, potentially making it an illegal act to own tools designed to generate non-consensual nude images.
• Establish a new, separate regulatory body to conduct spot checks on adult platforms and act on reports of unlawful content.

The campaigners argue that these steps would ensure the safeguards that have existed for years offline finally are extended to the online sphere.