British Adult Content Traffic Falls After Identity Checks, Yet Virtual Private Network Usage Surges, States Regulator

Visitor numbers to pornography websites in the UK has decreased markedly since the introduction of mandatory age verification earlier this year, as reported by the nation's communications authority. Simultaneously, the use of tools designed to dodge these restrictions has surged.

Immediate Drop in User Figures After Law Enforcement

The introduction of age verification on 25 July led to an swift fall in traffic to major pornography sites, such as the top site in the UK. Figures reveals that user traffic to this site in August were 9.8 million, a drop of 1.5 million compared to the same period in 2024.

In total, visitor numbers 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 data indicates this decline in site visits continued beyond August.

Sharp Increase in Virtual Private Network Usage to Bypass Checks

Reacting to the new rules, adoption of Virtual Private Networks (VPNs)—which can circumvent geographic restrictions by routing internet traffic through another country—surged after 25 July.

Usage reached a high at more than 1.4 million in mid-August, rising from approximately 650,000 users before the verification were introduced. However, the regulator noted that VPN usage has since fallen back, with current figures at approximately 900,000. It added that the volume of daily VPN use remains “much lower” than traffic for pornography sites.

Young People Taking Action to Damaging Online Content

Elsewhere, the regulator's annual study revealed that about 60% of young people aged 11 to 17 had taken action after seeing damaging content on the internet. Steps taken included reporting the material to the platform to muting the person who shared it.

This research was conducted prior to new rules took effect that require social media companies to prevent children from seeing harmful content, including material related to suicide and adult material. The most common way young people came across such content was by scrolling through a social media feed, suggesting that algorithms were serving harmful material.

Ministers Announce Examination of Adult Content Laws

Separately, the government stated it would examine the criminal law governing pornography to assess whether it is adequate in the ever-developing online world.

“The examination will look into the efficacy of the current law in relation to criminalising, for example, harmful depictions of familial abuse and any forms of pornography which promote the abuse of children,” said a government official.

Campaigners Call For Stricter Digital Regulations

Advocates for tighter regulation of online pornography have called on the government to ban so-called “barely legal” material. This encompasses content featuring incest scenes or that appears to promote child sexual abuse by casting youthful performers portraying children.

Proposed amendments to legislation aim to:

• Prohibit pornography where adults are mimicking children, often filmed in settings like children’s bedrooms.
• Extend the offence of creating an indecent image of a child to cover material where an adult plays the role of a child.
• Introduce tighter controls on familial abuse pornography, which research suggests is heavily recommended by platform algorithms.
• Introduce further restrictions on “nudification” software, potentially making it an illegal act to own tools designed to generate non-consensual nude images.
• Create a new, independent oversight agency to conduct inspections on pornography sites and respond to reports of illegal content.

The advocates argue that these measures would ensure the safeguards that have been enforced for years offline finally are extended to the online sphere.