British Adult Content Site Visits Falls After Age Verifications, Yet VPN Usage Surges, Reports Regulator
Traffic to pornography sites in the United Kingdom has decreased markedly after the roll-out of mandatory age verification this summer, as reported by the country's communications authority. Simultaneously, the usage of tools designed to dodge these blocks has surged.
Immediate Drop in User Numbers After Law Enforcement
The enforcement of age verification on 25 July resulted in an swift fall in visits to popular pornography sites, such as the leading site in the UK. Figures shows that visitor numbers to this site in August reached 9.8 million, a decrease of 1.5 million compared to the equivalent month in 2024.
Overall, visitor numbers to the 10 most-visited pornography sites in the UK have now settled at a “lower level” than prior to the end-of-July implementation date. Subsequent analysis suggests this downward trend in site visits continued past August.
Surge in VPN Adoption to Bypass Checks
In response to the new rules, use of VPN software—which can circumvent geographic blocks by routing connections via another country—more than doubled following 25 July.
Usage peaked at over 1.4 million in the middle of August, up from approximately 650,000 users before the checks were introduced. Subsequently, the watchdog noted that VPN usage has since steadily declined, with latest numbers at around 900,000. It clarified that the level of daily VPN use remains “much lower” than user numbers for adult sites.
Teenagers Responding to Harmful Material
Elsewhere, the watchdog's annual study revealed that about 60% of young people aged 11 to 17 had acted after encountering damaging content online. Actions ranged from flagging the material to the platform to muting the person who shared it.
This research was carried out prior to new rules took effect that require platforms to stop children from seeing harmful content, such as material related to self-harm and pornography. The most common way young people came across such content was by looking through a platform feed, suggesting that recommendation systems were showing harmful material.
Government Launch Examination of Adult Content Laws
Separately, the government stated it would examine the criminal law relating to pornography to assess whether it is effective in the modern digital age.
“The examination will look into the effectiveness of the current law in regarding making illegal, for example, damaging depictions of incest and any types of pornography which encourage the abuse of children,” stated a government official.
Advocates Push For Stricter Online Regulations
Campaigners for tighter control of online pornography have urged the government to ban so-called “barely legal” material. This encompasses content featuring incest scenes or that encourages abuse by casting youthful adults portraying children.
Suggested changes to legislation aim to:
- Ban pornography where adults are mimicking children, sometimes filmed in environments like children’s bedrooms.
- Extend the offence of making an exploitative portrayal of a child to cover material where an older performer acts the part of a child.
- Apply stricter controls on familial abuse pornography, which studies indicates is often promoted by platform algorithms.
- Add further restrictions on “nudification” software, potentially making it an illegal act to own tools designed to generate private images without permission.
- Establish a new, independent regulatory body to conduct spot checks on adult platforms and respond to reports of unlawful content.
The advocates contend that these measures would ensure the protections that have existed for decades in the physical world finally apply to the digital age.
