UK Adult Content Traffic Declines After Age Verifications, But VPN Usage Surges, Reports Watchdog

Traffic to adult content platforms in the UK has fallen significantly since the introduction of mandatory age verification this summer, as reported by the nation's communications authority. Concurrently, the adoption of specialist software designed to circumvent these barriers has surged.

Immediate Drop in Visitor Numbers After Law Enforcement

The enforcement of age vetting on 25 July led to an swift reduction in traffic to major online adult platforms, including the most visited provider in the UK. Figures indicates that user traffic to this site in August were 9.8 million, a decline of 1.5 million from the same period in 2024.

Overall, visitor numbers to the 10 top pornography sites in the UK have now settled at a markedly decreased volume than before the late July implementation date. Later analysis suggests this downward trend in site visits persisted past August.

Sharp Increase in Virtual Private Network Usage to Bypass Restrictions

Reacting to the new regulations, use of Virtual Private Networks (VPNs)—which can get around location-based blocks by masking connections through another nation—more than doubled following 25 July.

Usage reached a high at over 1.4 million in the middle of August, up from approximately 650,000 people prior to the verification were introduced. Subsequently, 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 is “much lower” than traffic for adult sites.

Teenagers Responding to Damaging Material

In other findings, the watchdog's annual study revealed that about 60% of young people aged 11 to 17 had taken action after encountering harmful content on the internet. Actions included reporting the material to the site to blocking the person who posted it.

This survey was carried out before new rules took effect that compel platforms to prevent children from accessing harmful content, such as material related to suicide and adult material. The most common way teenagers encountered such content was by scrolling through a platform feed, suggesting that recommendation systems were serving inappropriate material.

Government Launch Examination of Pornography Legislation

In a related development, the government announced it would review the legislation relating to pornography to consider whether it is “fit for purpose” in the ever-developing online world.

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

Advocates Push For Tighter Online Controls

Advocates for tighter control of online pornography have urged 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 portraying children.

Suggested amendments to government bills aim to:

• Ban pornography where adults are impersonating children, sometimes filmed in settings like children’s bedrooms.
• Extend the crime of making an exploitative portrayal of a child to cover material where an older performer acts the part of a child.
• Apply stricter regulation on familial abuse pornography, which research suggests is heavily recommended by site systems.
• Introduce further restrictions on “nudification” technology, potentially making it an illegal act to possess software designed to create private images without permission.
• Create a new, separate oversight agency to conduct inspections on pornography sites and act on reports of illegal content.

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