British Adult Content Traffic Declines Following Identity Checks, But VPN Usage Spikes, Reports Regulator

Visitor numbers to adult content websites in the United Kingdom has fallen significantly since the roll-out of age-checking measures earlier this year, as reported by the country's communications watchdog. Concurrently, the use of tools designed to bypass these restrictions has risen.

Immediate Fall in Visitor Numbers After Rule Implementation

The introduction of age verification on 25 July resulted in an prompt reduction in traffic to major pornography sites, such as the top provider in the UK. Data shows that visitor numbers to this platform in August reached 9.8 million, a drop of 1.5 million compared to the equivalent month in 2024.

In total, traffic to the ten top pornography sites in the UK have now settled at a significantly reduced level than prior to the late July implementation date. Subsequent analysis shows this decline in site visits continued beyond August.

Sharp Increase in VPN Usage to Evade Restrictions

In response to the new regulations, adoption of Virtual Private Networks (VPNs)—which can get around location-based restrictions by masking connections via another nation—more than doubled following 25 July.

Usage peaked at over 1.4 million in mid-August, up from around 650,000 people before the checks began. However, the regulator noted that VPN usage has afterwards fallen back, with current figures at around 900,000. It added that the level of regular VPN use is “much lower” than traffic for adult sites.

Teenagers Responding to Harmful Online Content

In other findings, the regulator's report found that about 60% of teenagers aged 11 to 17 had acted after encountering distressing content online. Steps taken ranged from flagging the material to the platform to blocking the person who posted it.

This research was carried out before new rules came into force that require platforms to stop children from seeing harmful content, including 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 Announce Examination of Pornography Laws

Separately, the government announced it would examine the criminal law relating to pornography to consider whether it is “fit for purpose” in the ever-developing digital age.

“The examination will investigate the effectiveness of the existing law in regarding criminalising, for example, damaging portrayals of incest and any types of pornography which promote the abuse of children,” said a government official.

Advocates Call For Stricter Digital Controls

Campaigners for better regulation of adult content have called on the authorities to ban so-called “barely legal” material. This includes content featuring simulated familial abuse or that encourages abuse by casting young-looking performers portraying children.

Proposed amendments to government bills seek to:

• Ban pornography where performers are mimicking children, sometimes recorded in environments like children’s bedrooms.
• Extend the offence of making an exploitative portrayal of a child to cover material where an adult acts the part of a child.
• Introduce tighter regulation on familial abuse pornography, which studies indicates is often promoted by site algorithms.
• Add further restrictions on “nudification” software, potentially making it an illegal act to own software designed to generate private images without permission.
• Establish a new, independent regulatory body to conduct inspections on pornography sites and respond to reports of illegal content.

The campaigners argue that these steps would ensure the safeguards that have existed for years offline finally are extended to the online sphere.