British Adult Content Site Visits Declines Following Age Verifications, Yet VPN Usage Surges, States Watchdog

Visitor numbers to pornography websites in the UK has seen a notable drop since the roll-out of age-checking measures this summer, as reported by the country's communications regulator. At the same time, the usage of tools designed to dodge these blocks has surged.

Sharp Drop in User Figures After Law Enforcement

The enforcement of age vetting on 25 July led to an swift decline in visits to popular online adult platforms, including the leading site in the UK. Data indicates that visitor numbers to this site in August were 9.8 million, a decrease of 1.5 million from the same period in 2024.

In total, traffic to the ten most-visited pornography sites in the UK have now settled at a “lower level” than before the late July implementation date. Later data suggests this decline in site visits persisted past August.

Surge in VPN Adoption to Evade Checks

Reacting to the new regulations, use of VPN software—which can get around location-based restrictions by masking connections via another country—more than doubled after 25 July.

User numbers peaked at over 1.4 million in the middle of August, rising from around 650,000 users prior to the checks began. Subsequently, the watchdog noted that VPN usage has since decreased, with current figures at approximately 900,000. It clarified that the level of regular VPN use is “much lower” than user numbers for pornography sites.

Young People Responding to Harmful Online Content

In other findings, the regulator's report revealed that about 60% of teenagers aged 11 to 17 had taken action after encountering damaging content on the internet. Steps taken included flagging the material to the platform to muting the person who posted it.

This research was carried out prior to new regulations came into force that compel social media companies to stop children from seeing dangerous content, including material related to suicide and pornography. The most common way teenagers encountered such content was by scrolling through a social media feed, indicating that algorithms were showing harmful material.

Ministers Launch Review of Adult Content Laws

Separately, the ministers stated it would review the criminal law relating to pornography to consider whether it is effective in the ever-developing digital age.

“The review will look into the efficacy of the existing law in regarding making illegal, among other things, harmful portrayals of incest and any forms of pornography which encourage the abuse of children,” stated a justice minister.

Advocates Push For Tighter Online Regulations

Advocates for tighter control of online pornography have called on the authorities to outlaw so-called “barely legal” material. This includes content featuring simulated familial abuse or that encourages child sexual abuse by using young-looking performers portraying children.

Proposed changes to legislation seek to:

• Ban pornography where performers are mimicking children, often filmed in settings like children’s bedrooms.
• Extend the offence of making an exploitative portrayal of a child to cover material where an older performer plays the role of a child.
• Introduce stricter controls on familial abuse pornography, which research indicates is often promoted by site systems.
• Introduce further controls on “nudification” technology, potentially making it an offence to possess tools designed to create private images without permission.
• Establish a new, independent regulatory body to conduct spot checks on adult platforms and act on reports of unlawful content.

The advocates argue that these steps would ensure the safeguards that have existed for decades in the physical world finally apply to the digital age.