UK Adult Content Traffic Falls After Age Checks, But VPN Usage Spikes, Reports Regulator

Access to pornography websites in the UK has fallen significantly after the introduction of mandatory age verification this summer, according to the nation's communications regulator. At the same time, the adoption of tools designed to bypass these blocks has increased.

Immediate Drop in Visitor Numbers After Rule Enforcement

The introduction of age verification on 25 July resulted in an swift reduction in traffic to leading pornography sites, including the leading site in the UK. Figures indicates that user traffic to this site in August reached 9.8 million, a decline of 1.5 million compared to the equivalent month in 2024.

Overall, traffic to the 10 most-visited pornography sites in the UK have now settled at a significantly reduced level than before the late July deadline. Subsequent data indicates this decline in viewing persisted beyond August.

Sharp Increase in Virtual Private Network Usage to Bypass Restrictions

Reacting to the new rules, use of VPN software—which can get around location-based restrictions by routing connections via another country—increased dramatically following 25 July.

User numbers peaked at over 1.4 million in mid-August, up from around 650,000 users before the checks were introduced. Subsequently, the regulator noted that VPN usage has since steadily declined, with current numbers standing at approximately 900,000. It added that the volume of daily VPN use is “much lower” than traffic for pornography sites.

Teenagers Responding to Harmful Material

In other findings, the regulator's annual study revealed that about 60% of teenagers aged 11 to 17 had taken action after seeing harmful content online. Actions ranged from reporting the material to the platform to muting the user who posted it.

This survey was conducted prior to new rules came into force that compel social media companies to prevent children from accessing harmful content, such as material related to suicide and adult material. The most common way young people encountered such content was by scrolling through a social media feed, suggesting that recommendation systems were showing inappropriate material.

Ministers Announce Examination of Pornography Legislation

In a related development, the government stated it would examine the criminal law relating to pornography to consider whether it is effective in the modern online world.

“The examination will investigate the effectiveness of the existing law in relation to making illegal, among other things, harmful portrayals of incest and any forms of pornography which promote the abuse of children,” said a government official.

Advocates Push For Tighter Digital Controls

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

Proposed changes to legislation aim to:

• Prohibit pornography where adults are mimicking children, sometimes filmed in settings 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 research indicates is heavily recommended by platform systems.
• Add additional restrictions on “nudification” technology, potentially making it an offence to possess tools designed to create private images without permission.
• Establish a new, independent oversight agency to perform spot checks on pornography sites and act on complaints of illegal content.

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