UK Adult Content Site Visits Declines After Identity Verifications, Yet Virtual Private Network Usage Surges, States Regulator

Access to pornography sites in the UK has fallen significantly after the introduction of age-checking measures this summer, as reported by the country's communications watchdog. At the same time, the usage of specialist software designed to circumvent these blocks has increased.

Sharp Fall in Visitor Figures After Law Implementation

The enforcement of age vetting on 25 July resulted in an immediate decline in visits to major pornography sites, such as the most visited site in the UK. Figures reveals that user traffic to this site in August were 9.8 million, a drop of 1.5 million from the same period in 2024.

In total, visitor numbers to the 10 most-visited adult services in the UK have now settled at a significantly reduced level than prior to the end-of-July implementation date. Subsequent analysis shows this slump in viewing continued past August.

Sharp Increase in VPN Usage to Bypass Checks

Reacting to the new regulations, adoption of Virtual Private Networks (VPNs)—which can bypass geographic restrictions by routing internet traffic through another nation—surged after 25 July.

User numbers reached a high at more than 1.4 million in the middle of August, up from around 650,000 people before the checks began. Subsequently, the regulator noted that VPN usage has afterwards fallen back, with current numbers standing at around 900,000. It added that the volume of daily VPN use is “much lower” than traffic for adult services.

Young People Taking Action to Harmful Material

Elsewhere, the regulator's report found that about 60% of young people aged 11 to 17 had acted after seeing damaging content online. Steps taken ranged from reporting the content to the platform to muting the person who shared it.

This research was carried out before new rules took effect that compel social media companies to stop children from seeing harmful content, such as material related to suicide and adult material. The most common way teenagers encountered such content was by scrolling through a platform feed, indicating that algorithms were serving inappropriate material.

Government Announce Examination of Pornography Legislation

Separately, the ministers announced it would review the legislation relating to pornography to consider whether it is “fit for purpose” in the modern online world.

“The examination will investigate the efficacy of the current law in regarding making illegal, among other things, harmful depictions of familial abuse and any types of pornography which promote child sexual abuse,” stated a justice minister.

Advocates Push For Tighter Digital Controls

Campaigners for tighter regulation of online pornography have urged the government to ban so-called “barely legal” material. This includes content featuring incest scenes or that encourages abuse by using youthful performers portraying children.

Suggested amendments to government bills aim to:

• Prohibit pornography where performers are impersonating children, often recorded in environments like children’s bedrooms.
• Extend the crime of making an indecent image of a child to cover material where an older performer plays the role of a child.
• Introduce tighter regulation on familial abuse pornography, which studies suggests is often promoted by site systems.
• Add additional controls on “nudification” software, potentially making it an illegal act to possess software designed to create non-consensual nude images.
• Establish a new, separate oversight agency to conduct spot checks on pornography sites and act on complaints 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.