British Adult Content Traffic Declines After Age Verifications, But VPN Usage Surges, States Watchdog

Visitor numbers to pornography platforms in the UK has decreased markedly since the introduction of mandatory age verification this summer, according to the nation's communications regulator. Concurrently, the adoption of tools designed to circumvent these barriers has surged.

Immediate Fall in Visitor Figures Following Law Implementation

The enforcement of age verification on 25 July resulted in an prompt reduction in traffic to leading online adult platforms, such as the most visited provider in the UK. Figures reveals that user traffic to this site in August were 9.8 million, a decline of 1.5 million compared to the same period in 2024.

In total, traffic to the 10 top adult services in the UK have now settled at a markedly decreased volume than prior to the end-of-July implementation date. Subsequent analysis suggests this decline in site visits continued beyond August.

Surge in Virtual Private Network Adoption to Evade Checks

In response to the new regulations, adoption of VPN software—which can bypass geographic blocks by routing internet traffic via another nation—more than doubled following 25 July.

Usage reached a high at more than 1.4 million in mid-August, rising from around 650,000 users prior to the checks were introduced. However, the regulator noted that VPN usage has afterwards fallen back, with latest figures at around 900,000. It clarified that the level of regular VPN use is “much lower” than user numbers for pornography services.

Young People Taking Action to Harmful Material

Elsewhere, the regulator's report revealed that about 60% of teenagers aged 11 to 17 had acted after encountering harmful content on the internet. Steps taken included flagging the content to the site to blocking the user who posted it.

This survey was conducted prior to new rules came into force that require platforms to stop children from seeing harmful content, including material related to self-harm and pornography. The primary way young people encountered such content was by scrolling through a social media feed, suggesting that algorithms were serving inappropriate material.

Ministers Announce Examination of Adult Content Laws

Separately, the government stated it would examine the legislation governing pornography to consider whether it is effective in the modern digital age.

“The review will look into the effectiveness of the existing law in regarding making illegal, among other things, damaging portrayals of incest and any types of pornography which promote child sexual abuse,” said a government official.

Campaigners Push For Stricter Digital Controls

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

Suggested changes to government bills aim to:

• Prohibit pornography where performers are impersonating children, sometimes recorded in environments like children’s bedrooms.
• Broaden the crime of creating an indecent image of a child to include material where an adult acts the part of a child.
• Introduce tighter controls on incest-themed pornography, which studies indicates is often promoted by site algorithms.
• Add further restrictions on “nudification” software, potentially making it an illegal act to own tools designed to create non-consensual nude images.
• Establish a new, independent regulatory body to perform inspections on adult platforms and act on complaints of unlawful content.

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