UK Adult Content Site Visits Declines After Age Verifications, Yet VPN Usage Surges, Reports Regulator

Access to adult content sites in the United Kingdom has seen a notable drop since the roll-out of age-checking measures earlier this year, according to the nation's communications authority. At the same time, the adoption of specialist software designed to dodge these barriers has increased.

Immediate Drop in User Figures Following Law Enforcement

The introduction of age vetting on 25 July resulted in an swift reduction in traffic to popular pornography sites, including the top provider in the UK. Data reveals that user traffic 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 ten top adult services in the UK have now settled at a “lower level” than prior to the late July implementation date. Subsequent analysis suggests this slump in viewing continued past August.

Sharp Increase in Virtual Private Network Adoption to Evade Checks

Reacting to the new regulations, use of VPN software—which can bypass location-based blocks by masking internet traffic through another nation—surged after 25 July.

Usage reached a high at more than 1.4 million in mid-August, rising from approximately 650,000 users prior to the verification began. However, the watchdog noted that VPN usage has afterwards decreased, with latest figures standing at approximately 900,000. It added that the level of regular VPN use remains “much lower” than user numbers for pornography sites.

Teenagers Taking Action to Damaging Online Content

Elsewhere, the watchdog's annual study found that about 60% of teenagers aged 11 to 17 had taken action after seeing damaging content on the internet. Actions ranged from reporting the content to the site to muting the user who shared it.

This survey was carried out prior to new rules took effect that compel platforms to stop children from seeing harmful content, including material related to self-harm and pornography. The primary way young people encountered such content was by scrolling through a social media feed, suggesting that algorithms were serving inappropriate material.

Government Announce Review of Adult Content Laws

Separately, the government announced it would examine the criminal law governing pornography to consider whether it is adequate in the modern online world.

“The examination will look into the effectiveness of the current law in relation to making illegal, among other things, damaging depictions of incest and any types of pornography which promote child sexual abuse,” said a government official.

Campaigners Push For Tighter Online Controls

Campaigners for tighter control of online pornography have urged the authorities to ban so-called “barely legal” material. This includes content featuring incest scenes or that appears to promote child sexual abuse by casting youthful adults portraying children.

Suggested amendments to legislation seek to:

• Ban pornography where performers are mimicking children, often filmed in settings like children’s bedrooms.
• Extend the offence of making 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 indicates is often promoted by platform algorithms.
• Add further controls on “nudification” software, potentially making it an illegal act to own tools designed to generate private images without permission.
• Create a new, independent regulatory body to perform inspections on adult platforms and respond to reports of illegal content.

The campaigners argue that these steps would ensure the protections that have existed for years offline finally are extended to the digital age.