British Adult Content Traffic Declines Following Age Verifications, Yet Virtual Private Network Use Surges, States Watchdog

Visitor numbers to adult content websites in the United Kingdom has fallen significantly since the introduction of age-checking measures this summer, as reported by the country's communications watchdog. Simultaneously, the usage of tools designed to dodge these blocks has surged.

Immediate Drop in User Numbers After Law Implementation

The introduction of age verification on 25 July led to an swift fall in traffic to leading pornography sites, including the leading provider in the UK. Figures indicates that user traffic to this platform in August were 9.8 million, a drop of 1.5 million compared to the same period in 2024.

Overall, traffic to the 10 top pornography sites in the UK have now stabilized at a “lower level” than before the end-of-July deadline. Subsequent data indicates this decline in site visits persisted beyond August.

Surge in VPN Adoption to Bypass Checks

In response to the new regulations, use of Virtual Private Networks (VPNs)—which can get around location-based blocks by routing internet traffic via another nation—increased dramatically after 25 July.

Usage peaked at more than 1.4 million in the middle of August, rising from approximately 650,000 people prior to the verification began. However, the regulator stated that VPN usage has since steadily declined, with current figures at around 900,000. It clarified that the volume of daily VPN use remains “much lower” than traffic for adult services.

Teenagers Responding to Damaging Material

Elsewhere, the watchdog's report found that about 60% of young people aged 11 to 17 had taken action after encountering distressing content on the internet. Steps taken included flagging the material to the platform to blocking the person who posted it.

This research was conducted prior to new regulations came into force that require platforms to stop children from seeing dangerous content, including material related to suicide and pornography. The most common way young people came across such content was by looking through a social media feed, indicating that algorithms were serving harmful material.

Government Announce Review of Pornography Legislation

In a related development, the government announced it would examine the criminal law relating to pornography to consider whether it is “fit for purpose” in the ever-developing online world.

“The examination will investigate the effectiveness of the existing law in regarding making illegal, among other things, damaging portrayals of familial abuse and any types of pornography which encourage the abuse of children,” said a government official.

Advocates Push For Stricter Digital Regulations

Advocates for better regulation of adult content have urged the government to ban so-called “barely legal” material. This includes content featuring simulated familial abuse or that encourages child sexual abuse by using young-looking adults dressed as children.

Suggested amendments to legislation seek to:

• Ban pornography where adults are mimicking children, sometimes filmed in settings like children’s bedrooms.
• Extend the offence of creating an indecent image of a child to cover material where an older performer acts the part of a child.
• Introduce stricter controls on familial abuse pornography, which studies suggests is often promoted by platform algorithms.
• Introduce further controls on “nudification” technology, potentially making it an illegal act to own tools designed to generate private images without permission.
• Establish a new, independent oversight agency to perform inspections on pornography sites and act on reports of illegal content.

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