UK Adult Content Site Visits Falls After Age Verifications, But VPN Use Surges, States Watchdog

Access to adult content websites in the UK has seen a notable drop since the enforcement of age-checking measures earlier this year, as reported by the country's communications authority. Simultaneously, the adoption of specialist software designed to bypass these restrictions has risen.

Immediate Drop in Visitor Figures Following Rule Implementation

The introduction of age verification on 25 July caused an swift reduction in traffic to major online adult platforms, such as the top provider in the UK. Data shows that user traffic to this site in August stood at 9.8 million, a drop of 1.5 million compared to the same period in 2024.

Overall, traffic to the ten most-visited pornography sites in the UK have now settled at a significantly reduced level than prior to the end-of-July implementation date. Later data shows this decline in viewing continued beyond August.

Surge in Virtual Private Network Usage to Bypass Checks

In response to the new rules, adoption of VPN software—which can circumvent geographic blocks by routing internet traffic via another country—surged following 25 July.

User numbers peaked at over 1.4 million in mid-August, up from around 650,000 people before the verification were introduced. Subsequently, the watchdog stated that VPN usage has since decreased, with latest numbers standing at around 900,000. It clarified that the volume of daily VPN use is “much lower” than traffic for adult sites.

Teenagers Responding to Damaging Material

In other findings, the regulator's annual study found that about 60% of teenagers aged 11 to 17 had taken action after seeing harmful content online. Steps taken included reporting the content to the platform to blocking the person who posted it.

This survey was conducted prior to new regulations came into force that require platforms to stop children from seeing dangerous content, including material related to self-harm and adult material. The primary way teenagers encountered such content was by looking through a social media timeline, suggesting that recommendation systems were serving harmful material.

Ministers Announce Review of Pornography Legislation

Separately, the ministers stated it would review the criminal law governing pornography to assess whether it is effective in the modern online world.

“The examination will investigate the efficacy of the current law in relation to criminalising, for example, damaging depictions of incest and any types of pornography which promote child sexual abuse,” said a justice minister.

Advocates Call For Stricter Online Regulations

Advocates for tighter control of adult content have urged the authorities to ban so-called “barely legal” material. This includes content featuring simulated familial abuse or that encourages child sexual abuse by using young-looking performers dressed as children.

Proposed amendments to legislation seek to:

• Prohibit pornography where performers are mimicking children, sometimes recorded in environments like children’s bedrooms.
• Extend the offence of making an indecent image of a child to cover material where an adult plays the role of a child.
• Introduce stricter controls on familial abuse pornography, which research indicates is often promoted by site algorithms.
• Add additional controls on “nudification” technology, potentially making it an offence to own software designed to generate non-consensual nude images.
• Establish a new, independent oversight agency to perform spot checks on pornography sites and act on complaints of illegal content.

The advocates contend that these steps would ensure the safeguards that have existed for years in the physical world finally apply to the online sphere.