British Adult Content Site Visits Falls After Identity Checks, But VPN Use Spikes, Reports Regulator

Traffic to pornography websites in the United Kingdom has seen a notable drop after the introduction of age-checking measures earlier this year, as reported by the nation's communications watchdog. Concurrently, the usage of tools designed to circumvent these restrictions has risen.

Sharp Drop in User Figures Following Rule Enforcement

The introduction of age vetting on 25 July caused an prompt decline in traffic to popular pornography sites, including the leading site in the UK. Figures shows that visitor numbers to this site in August stood at 9.8 million, a drop 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 “lower level” than before the late July implementation date. Later data suggests this decline in viewing continued past August.

Surge in VPN Usage to Evade Checks

In response to the new rules, use of Virtual Private Networks (VPNs)—which can circumvent location-based blocks by routing internet traffic through another nation—surged after 25 July.

User numbers peaked at over 1.4 million in mid-August, rising from around 650,000 users prior to the verification began. However, the regulator stated that VPN usage has since decreased, with latest figures at approximately 900,000. It added that the level of regular VPN use is “much lower” than traffic for pornography sites.

Young People Responding to Damaging Material

In other findings, the watchdog's annual study found that about 60% of young people aged 11 to 17 had acted after seeing harmful content online. Steps taken included flagging the material to the site to muting the person who shared it.

This research was conducted prior to new regulations came into force that compel social media companies to prevent children from accessing dangerous content, including material related to suicide and pornography. The most common way young people came across such content was by scrolling through a social media timeline, indicating that algorithms were showing harmful material.

Ministers Launch Examination of Pornography Laws

Separately, the government stated it would examine the criminal law governing pornography to assess whether it is effective in the modern digital age.

“The review will investigate the efficacy of the current law in regarding making illegal, for example, harmful portrayals of incest and any types of pornography which promote the abuse of children,” said a government official.

Advocates Call For Stricter Digital Regulations

Advocates for better control of online pornography have called on the government to ban so-called “barely legal” material. This encompasses content featuring incest scenes or that appears to promote child sexual abuse by casting youthful adults portraying children.

Proposed amendments to legislation seek to:

• Ban pornography where performers are impersonating children, sometimes recorded in environments like children’s bedrooms.
• Broaden the offence of creating an exploitative portrayal of a child to cover material where an adult acts the part of a child.
• Apply stricter regulation on incest-themed pornography, which research indicates is heavily recommended by site algorithms.
• Introduce additional controls on “nudification” technology, potentially making it an illegal act to possess software designed to create private images without permission.
• Establish a new, independent regulatory body to perform inspections on adult platforms and respond to complaints of unlawful content.

The advocates contend that these steps would ensure the protections that have been enforced for decades in the physical world finally are extended to the online sphere.