British Adult Content Traffic Declines After Age Verifications, Yet Virtual Private Network Use Spikes, States Regulator

Visitor numbers to pornography websites in the United Kingdom has fallen significantly after the enforcement of mandatory age verification this summer, according to the nation's communications regulator. Simultaneously, the adoption of tools designed to bypass these restrictions has risen.

Sharp Drop in User Numbers Following Law Enforcement

The introduction of age vetting on 25 July resulted in an prompt reduction in traffic to leading pornography sites, such as the most visited site in the UK. Figures indicates that visitor numbers to this platform in August reached 9.8 million, a drop of 1.5 million from the same period in 2024.

Overall, visitor numbers to the 10 most-visited pornography sites in the UK have now settled at a “lower level” than before the end-of-July implementation date. Later analysis suggests this decline in site visits continued past August.

Surge in Virtual Private Network Adoption to Bypass Checks

In response to the new regulations, use of VPN software—which can circumvent geographic restrictions by masking internet traffic via another nation—increased dramatically following 25 July.

User numbers peaked at more than 1.4 million in mid-August, up from approximately 650,000 users before the verification were introduced. However, the regulator noted that VPN usage has since decreased, with latest numbers standing at approximately 900,000. It added that the volume of daily VPN use is “much lower” than user numbers for adult services.

Teenagers Taking Action to Harmful Material

Elsewhere, the regulator's annual study revealed that about 60% of teenagers aged 11 to 17 had taken action after seeing damaging content online. Steps taken ranged from flagging the material to the platform to muting the person who shared it.

This survey was carried out before new regulations took effect that compel platforms to stop children from seeing dangerous content, such as material related to self-harm and pornography. The primary way young people encountered such content was by looking through a platform timeline, suggesting that recommendation systems were serving harmful material.

Ministers Launch Review of Adult Content Laws

In a related development, the ministers stated it would examine the legislation governing pornography to assess whether it is adequate in the ever-developing online world.

“The review will investigate the effectiveness of the current law in relation to criminalising, for example, harmful depictions of incest and any forms of pornography which promote child sexual abuse,” stated a justice minister.

Advocates Call For Stricter Online Controls

Advocates for tighter regulation of online pornography have called on the government to outlaw so-called “barely legal” material. This encompasses content featuring incest scenes or that appears to promote child sexual abuse by casting youthful performers portraying children.

Proposed amendments to legislation seek to:

• Prohibit pornography where adults are impersonating children, sometimes filmed in settings like children’s bedrooms.
• Extend the crime of making an exploitative portrayal of a child to include material where an older performer plays the role of a child.
• Introduce tighter controls on familial abuse pornography, which studies indicates is heavily recommended by site systems.
• Introduce additional controls on “nudification” technology, potentially making it an offence to own tools designed to create non-consensual nude images.
• Create a new, independent oversight agency to conduct inspections 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 offline finally are extended to the online sphere.