British Pornography Traffic Declines After Identity Verifications, Yet VPN Use Spikes, Reports Regulator

Access to adult content sites in the United Kingdom has fallen significantly after the enforcement of age-checking measures earlier this year, as reported by the nation's communications authority. Simultaneously, the use of specialist software designed to bypass these barriers has risen.

Sharp Drop in Visitor Figures Following Law Implementation

The enforcement of age verification on 25 July caused an swift reduction in traffic to leading online adult platforms, such as the leading site in the UK. Data indicates that visitor numbers to this platform in August were 9.8 million, a decrease of 1.5 million from the equivalent month in 2024.

In total, visitor numbers to the 10 top adult services in the UK have now settled at a significantly reduced level than prior to the end-of-July implementation date. Subsequent analysis shows this downward trend in viewing continued beyond August.

Surge in Virtual Private Network Usage to Bypass Restrictions

Reacting to the new regulations, use of Virtual Private Networks (VPNs)—which can bypass location-based blocks by masking connections through another country—surged following 25 July.

User numbers reached a high at more than 1.4 million in the middle of August, up from around 650,000 people prior to the verification were introduced. Subsequently, the watchdog noted that VPN usage has since decreased, with latest figures standing at approximately 900,000. It added that the volume of daily VPN use remains “much lower” than traffic for adult sites.

Teenagers Taking Action to Damaging Material

Elsewhere, the watchdog's annual study revealed that about 60% of teenagers aged 11 to 17 had acted after encountering distressing content on the internet. Steps taken ranged from flagging the material to the site to muting the user who shared it.

This survey was conducted before new rules came into force that require social media companies to prevent children from accessing harmful content, including material related to self-harm and adult material. The primary way young people came across such content was by scrolling through a social media timeline, indicating that algorithms were serving harmful material.

Ministers Launch Review of Pornography Laws

Separately, the government announced it would examine the legislation relating to pornography to assess whether it is “fit for purpose” in the modern online world.

“The examination will investigate the efficacy of the existing law in regarding criminalising, for example, harmful depictions of familial abuse and any forms of pornography which promote the abuse of children,” said a justice minister.

Advocates Call For Tighter Digital Regulations

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

Proposed changes to legislation seek to:

• Prohibit pornography where performers are impersonating children, sometimes recorded in environments like children’s bedrooms.
• Broaden the crime of making an exploitative portrayal of a child to cover material where an older performer plays the role of a child.
• Apply tighter controls on incest-themed pornography, which studies suggests is heavily recommended by site algorithms.
• Introduce additional restrictions on “nudification” technology, potentially making it an offence to possess tools designed to create private images without permission.
• Create a new, independent regulatory body to conduct inspections on adult platforms and act on reports of illegal content.

The advocates argue that these measures would ensure the safeguards that have existed for decades in the physical world finally are extended to the digital age.