British Adult Content Site Visits Falls Following Identity Verifications, Yet Virtual Private Network Usage Spikes, States Watchdog
Access to pornography sites in the UK has fallen significantly after the introduction of age-checking measures this summer, as reported by the country's communications authority. Concurrently, the use of specialist software designed to bypass these restrictions has increased.
Immediate Fall in Visitor Numbers Following Law Implementation
The introduction of age verification on 25 July led to an immediate fall in visits to popular online adult platforms, such as the most visited site in the UK. Figures shows that user traffic to this platform in August reached 9.8 million, a decrease of 1.5 million compared to the same period in 2024.
In total, traffic to the 10 most-visited pornography sites in the UK have now stabilized at a markedly decreased volume than prior to the end-of-July implementation date. Later data shows this downward trend in site visits persisted past August.
Surge in VPN Usage to Bypass Restrictions
In response to the new regulations, use of VPN software—which can bypass geographic restrictions by masking connections via another country—more than doubled following 25 July.
Usage reached a high at over 1.4 million in the middle of August, rising from approximately 650,000 users before the checks were introduced. Subsequently, the watchdog stated that VPN usage has since steadily declined, with current numbers standing at around 900,000. It clarified that the volume of daily VPN use remains “much lower” than traffic for adult sites.
Young People Responding to Harmful Online Content
Elsewhere, the regulator's annual study revealed that about 60% of teenagers aged 11 to 17 had taken action after encountering harmful content online. Steps taken included flagging the content to the platform to blocking the user who posted it.
This survey was carried out prior to new rules came into force that compel social media companies to prevent children from seeing dangerous content, such as material related to self-harm and adult material. The most common way young people encountered such content was by looking through a social media feed, suggesting that algorithms were serving inappropriate material.
Government Launch Review of Adult Content Laws
Separately, the government stated it would examine the criminal law relating to pornography to consider whether it is “fit for purpose” in the ever-developing digital age.
“The examination will investigate the effectiveness of the current law in relation to criminalising, among other things, harmful depictions of familial abuse and any forms of pornography which encourage the abuse of children,” stated a government official.
Advocates Call For Tighter Online Controls
Campaigners for better control of adult content have called on the authorities to ban so-called “barely legal” material. This encompasses content featuring incest scenes or that appears to promote abuse by casting youthful adults portraying children.
Proposed changes to legislation aim to:
- Prohibit pornography where adults are impersonating children, sometimes recorded in settings like children’s bedrooms.
- Broaden the crime of creating an indecent image of a child to cover material where an adult plays the role of a child.
- Introduce tighter controls on incest-themed pornography, which research indicates is often promoted by site systems.
- Add further restrictions on “nudification” technology, potentially making it an illegal act to possess tools designed to generate non-consensual nude images.
- Create a new, separate regulatory body to perform inspections on adult platforms and act on complaints of illegal content.
The advocates argue that these steps would ensure the protections that have existed for decades offline finally are extended to the digital age.
