British Pornography Traffic Falls After Age Verifications, Yet VPN Usage Spikes, States Watchdog

Visitor numbers to adult content platforms in the UK has decreased markedly since the enforcement of mandatory age verification this summer, as reported by the nation's communications regulator. Concurrently, the usage of tools designed to bypass these barriers has risen.

Immediate Drop in User Figures Following Rule Implementation

The enforcement of age vetting on 25 July caused an immediate decline in visits to major online adult platforms, including the leading provider in the UK. Data shows that visitor numbers to this site in August reached 9.8 million, a decline of 1.5 million compared to the same period in 2024.

In total, traffic to the ten top pornography sites in the UK have now settled at a markedly decreased volume than prior to the late July implementation date. Later data shows this decline in site visits persisted beyond August.

Sharp Increase in VPN Adoption to Evade Restrictions

Reacting to the new regulations, use of Virtual Private Networks (VPNs)—which can get around geographic blocks by routing internet traffic through another nation—increased dramatically after 25 July.

Usage reached a high at more than 1.4 million in the middle of August, rising from approximately 650,000 people prior to the verification began. Subsequently, the regulator stated that VPN usage has since decreased, with latest numbers at approximately 900,000. It clarified that the volume of daily VPN use is “much lower” than traffic for pornography sites.

Teenagers Taking Action to Harmful Online Content

Elsewhere, the regulator's annual study revealed that about 60% of young people aged 11 to 17 had taken action after seeing distressing content online. Actions included flagging the content to the site to blocking the person who shared it.

This research was carried out before new regulations took effect that require platforms to stop children from seeing harmful content, such as material related to self-harm and adult material. The most common way young people came across such content was by scrolling through a social media feed, indicating that algorithms were serving harmful material.

Ministers Launch Examination of Pornography Laws

Separately, the government stated it would review the legislation governing pornography to assess whether it is effective in the modern online world.

“The examination will look into the effectiveness of the current law in relation to making illegal, for example, damaging portrayals of incest and any forms of pornography which promote child sexual abuse,” said a government official.

Campaigners Push For Stricter Digital Controls

Advocates for better regulation of adult content have urged the government to ban so-called “barely legal” material. This encompasses content featuring simulated familial abuse or that encourages abuse by using youthful adults dressed as children.

Proposed amendments to government bills aim to:

• Prohibit pornography where adults are impersonating children, often filmed in settings like children’s bedrooms.
• Broaden the crime of creating an exploitative portrayal of a child to cover material where an adult acts the part of a child.
• Apply tighter regulation on incest-themed pornography, which studies suggests is often promoted by site algorithms.
• Introduce further restrictions on “nudification” software, potentially making it an offence to own tools designed to create private images without permission.
• Create a new, separate oversight agency to conduct spot checks on pornography sites and respond to complaints of unlawful content.

The campaigners contend that these measures would ensure the safeguards that have been enforced for decades in the physical world finally apply to the online sphere.