British Adult Content Traffic Falls After Identity Verifications, Yet VPN Use Surges, States Watchdog

Visitor numbers to adult content sites in the United Kingdom has seen a notable drop since the roll-out of mandatory age verification this summer, according to the nation's communications watchdog. Simultaneously, the usage of tools designed to circumvent these blocks has surged.

Immediate Fall in User Numbers After Law Enforcement

The introduction of age vetting on 25 July caused an swift reduction in visits to leading online adult platforms, including the top site in the UK. Data indicates that visitor numbers to this platform in August reached 9.8 million, a drop of 1.5 million compared to the same period in 2024.

In total, visitor numbers to the 10 most-visited pornography sites in the UK have now settled at a significantly reduced level than prior to the late July deadline. Subsequent data shows this downward trend in site visits continued past August.

Sharp Increase in VPN Adoption to Evade Checks

Reacting to the new regulations, adoption of Virtual Private Networks (VPNs)—which can bypass geographic blocks by routing internet traffic via another nation—increased dramatically after 25 July.

Usage reached a high at more than 1.4 million in the middle of August, up from around 650,000 users prior to the verification were introduced. Subsequently, the regulator noted that VPN usage has since fallen back, with latest numbers at approximately 900,000. It added that the level of daily VPN use remains “much lower” than user numbers for adult sites.

Young People Taking Action to Damaging Online Content

Elsewhere, the watchdog's report found that about 60% of young people aged 11 to 17 had taken action after encountering distressing content online. Steps taken included flagging the content to the platform to muting the user who posted it.

This research was conducted before new rules took effect that compel social media companies to stop children from accessing harmful content, including material related to suicide and pornography. The most common way young people encountered such content was by looking through a platform timeline, suggesting that algorithms were serving inappropriate material.

Government Launch Examination of Adult Content Laws

Separately, the government announced it would review the legislation governing pornography to consider whether it is “fit for purpose” in the modern online world.

“The review will investigate the effectiveness of the existing law in relation to making illegal, for example, damaging depictions of familial abuse and any forms of pornography which promote the abuse of children,” stated a government official.

Advocates Push For Stricter Online Controls

Advocates for better regulation of online pornography have urged the authorities to ban so-called “barely legal” material. This includes content featuring incest scenes or that appears to promote child sexual abuse by casting youthful adults dressed as children.

Suggested changes to government bills seek to:

• Ban pornography where adults are impersonating children, sometimes filmed in environments like children’s bedrooms.
• Broaden the offence of making an indecent image of a child to cover material where an adult acts the part of a child.
• Introduce stricter regulation on familial abuse pornography, which research suggests is often promoted by platform systems.
• Introduce further restrictions on “nudification” software, potentially making it an offence to possess software designed to generate private images without permission.
• Establish a new, separate oversight agency to conduct spot checks on pornography sites and act on complaints of unlawful content.

The campaigners contend that these measures would ensure the protections that have existed for years in the physical world finally are extended to the digital age.