UK Adult Content Traffic Declines After Age Verifications, Yet VPN Use Surges, Reports Watchdog

Access to pornography websites in the United Kingdom has seen a notable drop since the enforcement of mandatory age verification this summer, as reported by the country's communications authority. Concurrently, the adoption of specialist software designed to bypass these blocks has increased.

Sharp Fall in User Numbers After Law Enforcement

The enforcement of age verification on 25 July led to an swift fall in visits to major online adult platforms, including the leading provider in the UK. Data reveals that visitor numbers to this platform in August were 9.8 million, a decrease of 1.5 million from the same period in 2024.

In total, traffic to the 10 most-visited adult services in the UK have now settled at a significantly reduced level than before the end-of-July implementation date. Later data shows this downward trend in viewing persisted past August.

Sharp Increase in VPN Adoption to Bypass Checks

Reacting to the new rules, use of Virtual Private Networks (VPNs)—which can bypass location-based blocks by masking internet traffic via another nation—more than doubled following 25 July.

Usage reached a high at more than 1.4 million in the middle of August, rising from around 650,000 users prior to the verification were introduced. However, the regulator stated that VPN usage has since decreased, with latest figures standing at around 900,000. It clarified that the volume of regular VPN use is “much lower” than traffic for adult services.

Young People Taking Action to Damaging Online Content

In other findings, the regulator's report found that about 60% of teenagers aged 11 to 17 had acted after encountering distressing content on the internet. Actions ranged from flagging the material to the platform to blocking the user who posted it.

This research was carried out before new rules came into force that require social media companies to stop children from seeing dangerous content, such as material related to self-harm and adult material. The most common way teenagers came across such content was by looking through a platform timeline, indicating that algorithms were serving harmful material.

Government Announce Review of Adult Content Laws

In a related development, the ministers announced it would examine the legislation relating to pornography to assess whether it is “fit for purpose” in the modern digital age.

“The examination will investigate the effectiveness of the current law in relation to criminalising, among other things, damaging depictions of familial abuse and any types of pornography which encourage child sexual abuse,” said a justice minister.

Campaigners Push For Tighter Online Controls

Campaigners for better 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 youthful performers dressed as children.

Suggested changes to legislation aim to:

• Prohibit pornography where adults are mimicking children, often recorded in settings like children’s bedrooms.
• Broaden the offence of creating an indecent image of a child to include material where an adult plays the role of a child.
• Apply tighter regulation on incest-themed pornography, which research indicates is often promoted by platform systems.
• Add further restrictions on “nudification” technology, potentially making it an illegal act to possess software designed to create non-consensual nude images.
• Establish a new, independent oversight agency to conduct spot checks on pornography sites and act on complaints of unlawful content.

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