UK Adult Content Traffic Declines Following Age Verifications, Yet Virtual Private Network Use Spikes, Reports Regulator

Traffic to pornography sites in the United Kingdom has fallen significantly after the enforcement of mandatory age verification this summer, according to the nation's communications regulator. Concurrently, the adoption of tools designed to dodge these barriers has risen.

Sharp Drop in User Numbers Following Rule Enforcement

The enforcement of age verification on 25 July resulted in an immediate decline in visits to leading online adult platforms, such as the most visited provider in the UK. Data shows that visitor numbers to this platform in August stood at 9.8 million, a drop of 1.5 million from the same period in 2024.

In total, traffic to the ten most-visited adult services in the UK have now settled at a “lower level” than before the late July deadline. Subsequent analysis indicates this slump in viewing persisted past August.

Sharp Increase in VPN Adoption to Bypass Restrictions

Reacting to the new rules, adoption of VPN software—which can bypass location-based blocks by routing connections through another nation—more than doubled following 25 July.

Usage reached a high at more than 1.4 million in mid-August, up from approximately 650,000 users before the verification began. Subsequently, the watchdog stated that VPN usage has afterwards decreased, with current numbers standing at approximately 900,000. It clarified that the level of regular VPN use remains “much lower” than traffic for pornography sites.

Young People Responding to Harmful Material

Elsewhere, the watchdog's report revealed that about 60% of teenagers aged 11 to 17 had taken action after seeing damaging content online. Actions included flagging the material to the platform to muting the person who posted it.

This research was carried out before new rules came into force that require social media companies to stop children from seeing harmful content, such as material related to self-harm and pornography. The most common way teenagers encountered such content was by scrolling through a platform feed, suggesting that algorithms were serving inappropriate material.

Government Announce Examination of Pornography Laws

Separately, the government announced it would review the criminal law relating to pornography to assess whether it is adequate in the modern online world.

“The examination will investigate the efficacy of the current law in regarding making illegal, among other things, harmful portrayals of familial abuse and any types of pornography which promote child sexual abuse,” said a justice minister.

Campaigners Call For Tighter Online Controls

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

Suggested amendments to legislation seek to:

• Ban pornography where adults are mimicking children, sometimes filmed in environments like children’s bedrooms.
• Broaden the crime of creating an exploitative portrayal of a child to include material where an older performer acts the part of a child.
• Apply stricter controls on incest-themed pornography, which studies indicates is heavily recommended by site algorithms.
• Add additional controls on “nudification” technology, potentially making it an offence to possess tools designed to generate private images without permission.
• Establish a new, independent oversight agency to conduct spot checks on pornography sites and respond to complaints of unlawful content.

The campaigners argue that these measures would ensure the safeguards that have existed for decades in the physical world finally are extended to the online sphere.