British Adult Content Site Visits Falls Following Identity Verifications, Yet VPN Use Surges, States Watchdog

Traffic to adult content platforms in the United Kingdom has decreased markedly since the enforcement of mandatory age verification this summer, as reported by the country's communications watchdog. Simultaneously, the adoption of specialist software designed to circumvent these barriers has risen.

Sharp Fall in Visitor Numbers After Law Implementation

The enforcement of age vetting on 25 July led to an prompt reduction in visits to major online adult platforms, such as the most visited site in the UK. Figures indicates that visitor numbers to this platform in August were 9.8 million, a decline of 1.5 million compared to the equivalent month in 2024.

In total, visitor numbers to the 10 most-visited pornography sites in the UK have now stabilized at a “lower level” than before the late July deadline. Later analysis suggests this downward trend in site visits persisted beyond August.

Sharp Increase in Virtual Private Network Usage to Evade Restrictions

In response to the new rules, use of VPN software—which can get around location-based blocks by masking internet traffic through another nation—surged after 25 July.

User numbers reached a high at over 1.4 million in the middle of August, rising from approximately 650,000 users prior to the verification began. Subsequently, the regulator noted that VPN usage has afterwards fallen back, with current numbers at around 900,000. It clarified that the level of regular VPN use is “much lower” than user numbers for pornography services.

Teenagers Responding to Damaging Online Content

Elsewhere, the watchdog's annual study found that about 60% of teenagers aged 11 to 17 had taken action after seeing damaging content online. Actions ranged from flagging the material to the site to muting the person who posted it.

This survey was conducted prior to new regulations came into force that compel platforms to stop children from accessing dangerous content, such as material related to self-harm and adult material. The most common way teenagers came across such content was by scrolling through a social media timeline, indicating that recommendation systems were serving harmful material.

Government Launch Examination of Pornography Laws

In a related development, the ministers announced it would review the legislation relating to pornography to assess whether it is adequate in the ever-developing digital age.

“The examination will look into the efficacy of the current law in regarding criminalising, among other things, damaging depictions of incest and any types of pornography which encourage child sexual abuse,” stated a justice minister.

Advocates Push For Stricter Digital Regulations

Advocates for tighter regulation of online pornography have called on the government to outlaw so-called “barely legal” material. This includes content featuring incest scenes or that encourages child sexual abuse by casting young-looking performers dressed as children.

Suggested changes to government bills aim to:

• Prohibit pornography where performers are mimicking children, sometimes recorded in settings like children’s bedrooms.
• Extend the offence of making an indecent image of a child to cover material where an older performer plays the role of a child.
• Apply stricter regulation on incest-themed pornography, which studies suggests is often promoted by platform algorithms.
• Add additional restrictions on “nudification” technology, potentially making it an illegal act to own software designed to generate non-consensual nude images.
• Establish a new, separate regulatory body to perform inspections on pornography sites and respond to reports of unlawful content.

The advocates argue that these steps would ensure the safeguards that have been enforced for years offline finally apply to the digital age.