British Adult Content Site Visits Declines After Identity Checks, But VPN Use Spikes, States Watchdog

Visitor numbers to pornography websites in the UK has fallen significantly since the introduction of age-checking measures earlier this year, according to the nation's communications watchdog. Concurrently, the use of specialist software designed to bypass these barriers has risen.

Sharp Fall in User Numbers After Law Implementation

The enforcement of age verification on 25 July resulted in an swift decline in visits to major online adult platforms, such as the leading site in the UK. Data indicates that user traffic to this platform in August were 9.8 million, a decline of 1.5 million compared to the same period in 2024.

In total, visitor numbers to the ten most-visited adult services in the UK have now stabilized at a markedly decreased volume than before the end-of-July implementation date. Subsequent data suggests this slump in site visits persisted beyond August.

Sharp Increase in Virtual Private Network Adoption to Bypass Restrictions

Reacting to the new regulations, use of Virtual Private Networks (VPNs)—which can bypass geographic blocks by routing connections through another country—increased dramatically after 25 July.

Usage reached a high at over 1.4 million in the middle of August, up from approximately 650,000 people before the verification began. Subsequently, the regulator stated that VPN usage has afterwards steadily declined, with current figures standing at around 900,000. It clarified that the volume of daily VPN use is “much lower” than user numbers for pornography sites.

Young People Taking Action to Harmful Material

In other findings, the watchdog's report found that about 60% of teenagers aged 11 to 17 had taken action after seeing harmful content online. Actions ranged from reporting the content to the site to muting the user who posted it.

This survey was carried out prior to new regulations took effect that compel social media companies to prevent children from accessing harmful content, such as material related to self-harm and pornography. The primary way young people encountered such content was by looking through a social media feed, suggesting that recommendation systems were serving harmful material.

Government Launch Examination of Pornography Legislation

In a related development, the ministers stated it would review the legislation relating to pornography to assess whether it is effective in the modern digital age.

“The review will look into the efficacy of the current law in relation to making illegal, for example, damaging portrayals of familial abuse and any forms of pornography which promote the abuse of children,” said a justice minister.

Advocates Call For Stricter Online Regulations

Advocates for better regulation of adult content have called on the authorities to outlaw so-called “barely legal” material. This includes content featuring incest scenes or that encourages abuse by using youthful adults dressed as children.

Suggested amendments to government bills seek to:

• Ban pornography where performers are mimicking children, often filmed in environments like children’s bedrooms.
• Broaden the crime of making an exploitative portrayal of a child to cover material where an adult acts the part of a child.
• Apply tighter controls on familial abuse pornography, which research indicates is heavily recommended by site algorithms.
• Introduce further restrictions on “nudification” software, potentially making it an offence to own tools designed to create non-consensual nude images.
• Establish a new, separate regulatory body to conduct spot checks on adult platforms and act on reports of illegal content.

The advocates argue that these measures would ensure the protections that have been enforced for years in the physical world finally apply to the online sphere.