British Adult Content Traffic Declines After Identity Verifications, Yet Virtual Private Network Usage Surges, States Regulator

Access to adult content websites in the UK has decreased markedly after the introduction of age-checking measures earlier this year, according to the country's communications regulator. Simultaneously, the use of specialist software designed to bypass these restrictions has increased.

Immediate Drop in Visitor Figures Following Rule Enforcement

The enforcement of age vetting on 25 July led to an prompt decline in visits to popular online adult platforms, including the most visited site in the UK. Figures shows that user traffic to this site in August were 9.8 million, a decline of 1.5 million compared to the equivalent month in 2024.

Overall, visitor numbers to the ten top pornography sites in the UK have now stabilized at a markedly decreased volume than before the end-of-July deadline. Subsequent analysis indicates this slump in site visits continued past August.

Surge in VPN Adoption to Evade Restrictions

Reacting to the new rules, use of VPN software—which can get around geographic blocks by routing internet traffic through another country—more than doubled after 25 July.

Usage peaked at more than 1.4 million in the middle of August, up from approximately 650,000 people prior to the verification began. Subsequently, the regulator noted that VPN usage has since decreased, with current figures at approximately 900,000. It added that the volume of regular VPN use remains “much lower” than user numbers for adult services.

Young People Taking Action to Damaging Material

Elsewhere, the watchdog's report revealed that about 60% of young people aged 11 to 17 had taken action after seeing damaging content on the internet. Actions ranged from reporting the content to the site to blocking the user who posted it.

This survey was carried out before new rules came into force that require platforms to stop children from seeing harmful content, such as material related to suicide and pornography. The most common way teenagers came across such content was by scrolling through a social media timeline, indicating that algorithms were serving inappropriate material.

Government Launch Review of Adult Content Legislation

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

“The examination will investigate the efficacy of the current law in relation to making illegal, among other things, harmful depictions of familial abuse and any types of pornography which encourage the abuse of children,” said a justice minister.

Campaigners Push For Tighter Digital Regulations

Campaigners for tighter control of adult content have called on the authorities to outlaw so-called “barely legal” material. This encompasses content featuring simulated familial abuse or that encourages abuse by using youthful performers dressed as children.

Suggested changes to government bills seek to:

• Ban pornography where performers are mimicking children, often recorded in settings like children’s bedrooms.
• Extend the offence of making an indecent image of a child to cover material where an older performer acts the part of a child.
• Introduce tighter regulation on incest-themed pornography, which research suggests is heavily recommended by platform systems.
• Add additional controls 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 adult platforms and act on complaints of illegal content.

The advocates argue that these measures would ensure the safeguards that have been enforced for years offline finally apply to the digital age.