British Adult Content Traffic Declines Following Identity Verifications, But Virtual Private Network Use Spikes, States Watchdog

Access to adult content websites in the United Kingdom has decreased markedly since the enforcement of mandatory age verification earlier this year, according to the country's communications authority. At the same time, the use of tools designed to circumvent these restrictions has risen.

Sharp Drop in User Figures After Rule Implementation

The introduction of age vetting on 25 July led to an immediate reduction in visits to major online adult platforms, including the most visited site in the UK. Data reveals that visitor numbers to this site in August stood at 9.8 million, a decrease of 1.5 million compared to the equivalent month in 2024.

Overall, visitor numbers to the ten most-visited adult services in the UK have now settled at a “lower level” than prior to the late July deadline. Subsequent data shows this decline in site visits continued past August.

Sharp Increase in VPN Adoption to Bypass Restrictions

Reacting to the new rules, use of Virtual Private Networks (VPNs)—which can circumvent geographic blocks by masking connections through another country—more than doubled after 25 July.

User numbers reached a high at more than 1.4 million in mid-August, rising from approximately 650,000 people prior to the verification were introduced. Subsequently, the watchdog stated that VPN usage has afterwards fallen back, with current numbers standing at approximately 900,000. It clarified that the volume of daily VPN use remains “much lower” than user numbers for pornography services.

Young People Taking Action to Harmful Material

Elsewhere, the watchdog's report revealed that about 60% of young people aged 11 to 17 had taken action after seeing damaging content online. Actions included flagging the material to the site to blocking the person who shared it.

This survey was carried out before new regulations took effect that require social media companies to prevent children from seeing harmful content, such as material related to self-harm and adult material. The most common way young people encountered such content was by looking through a social media timeline, indicating that algorithms were serving harmful material.

Ministers Launch Examination of Pornography Laws

Separately, the government stated it would review the criminal law governing pornography to assess whether it is adequate in the ever-developing digital age.

“The review will look into the efficacy of the current law in regarding making illegal, among other things, damaging depictions of incest and any types of pornography which promote child sexual abuse,” said a justice minister.

Campaigners Push For Stricter Online Controls

Advocates for tighter regulation 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 abuse by casting youthful adults portraying children.

Proposed changes to government bills aim to:

• Prohibit pornography where adults are impersonating children, often recorded in settings like children’s bedrooms.
• Broaden the crime of creating an exploitative portrayal of a child to cover material where an adult plays the role of a child.
• Introduce stricter controls on familial abuse pornography, which studies indicates is often promoted by platform algorithms.
• Introduce further restrictions on “nudification” technology, potentially making it an offence to own software designed to create non-consensual nude images.
• Establish a new, separate oversight agency to perform inspections on adult platforms and act on reports of illegal content.

The advocates argue that these steps would ensure the protections that have existed for years in the physical world finally are extended to the digital age.