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

Traffic to adult content sites in the United Kingdom has decreased markedly after the introduction of mandatory age verification this summer, as reported by the country's communications watchdog. Simultaneously, the use of specialist software designed to bypass these blocks has surged.

Sharp Fall in User Numbers After Law Enforcement

The enforcement of age verification on 25 July caused an immediate reduction in traffic to major pornography sites, such as the most visited provider in the UK. Data shows that visitor numbers to this platform in August reached 9.8 million, a decline of 1.5 million compared to the equivalent month in 2024.

Overall, traffic to the 10 most-visited adult services in the UK have now stabilized at a significantly reduced level than before the late July deadline. Later analysis shows this decline in viewing persisted beyond August.

Surge in Virtual Private Network Adoption to Bypass Checks

Reacting to the new rules, adoption of VPN software—which can circumvent geographic blocks by routing connections through another country—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 people before the checks began. Subsequently, the regulator stated that VPN usage has afterwards decreased, with latest numbers at around 900,000. It added that the level of daily VPN use remains “much lower” than user numbers for adult sites.

Teenagers Responding to Damaging Online Content

Elsewhere, the regulator's report revealed that about 60% of young people aged 11 to 17 had taken action after seeing harmful content online. Steps taken ranged from reporting the material to the site to blocking the user who posted it.

This research was conducted prior to new rules came into force that compel platforms to prevent children from seeing harmful content, such as material related to suicide and adult material. The primary way teenagers encountered such content was by looking through a platform timeline, indicating that recommendation systems were serving harmful material.

Ministers Launch Examination of Pornography Laws

In a related development, the ministers stated it would examine the criminal law relating to pornography to consider whether it is effective in the ever-developing digital age.

“The review will investigate the effectiveness of the current law in regarding criminalising, among other things, harmful portrayals of familial abuse and any types of pornography which encourage the abuse of children,” stated a government official.

Advocates Call For Stricter Online Controls

Campaigners for better control of online pornography have urged the authorities to ban so-called “barely legal” material. This encompasses content featuring simulated familial abuse or that encourages child sexual abuse by casting youthful performers portraying children.

Proposed amendments to legislation seek to:

• Ban pornography where performers are mimicking children, often filmed in settings like children’s bedrooms.
• Extend the offence of creating an indecent image of a child to cover material where an adult acts the part of a child.
• Apply stricter regulation on familial abuse pornography, which studies suggests is heavily recommended by platform systems.
• Introduce further restrictions on “nudification” software, potentially making it an illegal act to possess software designed to generate non-consensual nude images.
• Create a new, independent oversight agency to perform spot checks on pornography sites and act on reports of illegal content.

The campaigners argue that these steps would ensure the safeguards that have been enforced for years offline finally apply to the online sphere.