UK Adult Content Site Visits Falls After Age Verifications, Yet Virtual Private Network Use Surges, Reports Regulator

Visitor numbers to adult content platforms in the United Kingdom has decreased markedly after the roll-out of age-checking measures earlier this year, according to the nation's communications authority. Concurrently, the usage of specialist software designed to circumvent these restrictions has surged.

Sharp Drop in User Figures After Law Implementation

The enforcement of age vetting on 25 July led to an immediate fall in visits to leading online adult platforms, such as the top provider in the UK. Figures indicates that user traffic to this site in August were 9.8 million, a decrease of 1.5 million compared to the equivalent month in 2024.

In total, visitor numbers to the 10 top pornography sites in the UK have now stabilized at a markedly decreased volume than prior to the end-of-July implementation date. Later analysis shows this decline 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 get around location-based restrictions by masking connections via another nation—more than doubled following 25 July.

User numbers reached a high at over 1.4 million in mid-August, up from around 650,000 users before the verification were introduced. Subsequently, the watchdog stated that VPN usage has since steadily declined, with latest numbers at approximately 900,000. It added that the volume of daily VPN use remains “much lower” than traffic for pornography services.

Young People Taking Action to Damaging Material

Elsewhere, the watchdog's annual study revealed that about 60% of teenagers aged 11 to 17 had taken action after seeing harmful content on the internet. Actions included reporting the content to the platform to blocking the user who shared it.

This research was carried out before new rules took effect that require platforms to stop children from accessing harmful content, including material related to self-harm and pornography. The primary way teenagers came across such content was by looking through a platform timeline, indicating that recommendation systems were showing harmful material.

Ministers Launch Examination of Pornography Laws

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

“The examination will investigate the efficacy of the current law in relation to criminalising, among other things, damaging portrayals of familial abuse and any types of pornography which promote child sexual abuse,” stated a government official.

Campaigners Call For Tighter Digital Regulations

Advocates for tighter control of online pornography have called on the government to ban so-called “barely legal” material. This encompasses content featuring simulated familial abuse or that encourages abuse by using young-looking performers dressed as children.

Suggested changes to legislation seek to:

• Ban pornography where performers are impersonating children, often filmed in settings like children’s bedrooms.
• Extend the offence of making an indecent image of a child to include material where an adult acts the part of a child.
• Introduce stricter regulation on familial abuse pornography, which studies indicates is often promoted by platform algorithms.
• Introduce further controls on “nudification” software, potentially making it an offence to own tools designed to generate private images without permission.
• Establish a new, independent regulatory body to conduct inspections on adult platforms and act on reports of illegal content.

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