British Adult Content Traffic Falls Following Age Checks, Yet Virtual Private Network Usage Surges, States Watchdog

Traffic to adult content sites in the United Kingdom has fallen significantly since the introduction of age-checking measures this summer, according to the nation's communications regulator. At the same time, the adoption of tools designed to dodge these blocks has risen.

Sharp Fall in Visitor Figures After Rule Implementation

The enforcement of age verification on 25 July led to an prompt fall in traffic to leading online adult platforms, such as the most visited site in the UK. Figures shows that visitor numbers to this platform in August were 9.8 million, a drop of 1.5 million from the equivalent month in 2024.

Overall, traffic to the 10 most-visited pornography sites in the UK have now stabilized at a “lower level” than prior to the end-of-July deadline. Later data suggests this downward trend in site visits continued beyond August.

Sharp Increase in Virtual Private Network Usage to Evade Checks

In response to the new regulations, adoption of VPN software—which can circumvent location-based blocks by routing connections through another country—surged after 25 July.

User numbers reached a high at more than 1.4 million in mid-August, rising from around 650,000 users prior to the verification were introduced. Subsequently, the regulator stated that VPN usage has since fallen back, with latest figures standing at around 900,000. It added that the volume of daily VPN use is “much lower” than user numbers for pornography services.

Teenagers Responding to Damaging Online Content

In other findings, the watchdog's annual study revealed that about 60% of teenagers aged 11 to 17 had acted after seeing harmful content online. Steps taken ranged from flagging the material to the site to blocking the person who posted it.

This research was carried out prior to new rules took effect that compel social media companies to prevent children from seeing harmful content, including material related to self-harm and pornography. The primary way young people encountered such content was by looking through a social media timeline, indicating that algorithms were showing harmful material.

Ministers Launch Review of Pornography Legislation

Separately, the government stated it would review the criminal law governing pornography to assess whether it is effective in the modern digital age.

“The review will look into the effectiveness of the current law in regarding criminalising, for example, damaging portrayals of familial abuse and any forms of pornography which encourage the abuse of children,” said a justice minister.

Campaigners Call For Stricter Online Regulations

Advocates for better regulation of adult content have called on the authorities to outlaw so-called “barely legal” material. This encompasses content featuring incest scenes or that encourages child sexual abuse by casting youthful adults dressed as children.

Proposed changes to government bills seek to:

• Prohibit pornography where performers are impersonating children, often filmed in settings like children’s bedrooms.
• Broaden the crime of making an indecent image of a child to include material where an older performer plays the role of a child.
• Apply tighter regulation on familial abuse pornography, which research indicates is often promoted by platform systems.
• Introduce further controls on “nudification” technology, potentially making it an offence to possess tools designed to create non-consensual nude images.
• Establish a new, separate oversight agency to conduct inspections on pornography sites and respond to complaints of unlawful content.

The campaigners argue that these steps would ensure the protections that have been enforced for decades in the physical world finally are extended to the online sphere.