UK Pornography Site Visits Falls After Age Verifications, Yet VPN Usage Spikes, States Watchdog

Access to adult content platforms in the UK has decreased markedly after the roll-out of mandatory age verification earlier this year, according to the country's communications watchdog. Concurrently, the usage of tools designed to bypass these blocks has risen.

Sharp Drop in User Figures After Rule Implementation

The enforcement of age vetting on 25 July caused an immediate fall in traffic to leading pornography sites, such as the most visited site in the UK. Figures indicates that user traffic to this platform in August stood at 9.8 million, a drop of 1.5 million compared to the equivalent month in 2024.

In total, traffic to the ten top pornography sites in the UK have now settled at a “lower level” than before the end-of-July deadline. Subsequent data indicates this downward trend in site visits continued beyond August.

Surge in Virtual Private Network Adoption to Bypass Restrictions

In response to the new rules, use of VPN software—which can circumvent location-based blocks by routing connections via another nation—surged following 25 July.

User numbers peaked at more than 1.4 million in the middle of August, rising from approximately 650,000 people prior to the checks began. Subsequently, the watchdog noted that VPN usage has afterwards fallen back, with current figures at approximately 900,000. It clarified that the level of regular VPN use remains “much lower” than traffic for adult sites.

Young People Responding to Harmful Material

Elsewhere, the watchdog's report found that about 60% of young people aged 11 to 17 had taken action after encountering harmful content online. Steps taken ranged from flagging the material to the site to muting the person who posted it.

This research was conducted prior to new rules came into force that require platforms to stop children from seeing dangerous content, including material related to suicide and adult material. The most common way teenagers encountered such content was by looking through a social media feed, indicating that recommendation systems were serving inappropriate material.

Government Launch Review of Adult Content Legislation

In a related development, the ministers stated it would examine the criminal law relating to pornography to consider whether it is adequate in the ever-developing online world.

“The examination will look into the effectiveness of the existing law in regarding criminalising, for example, harmful depictions of familial abuse and any types of pornography which promote the abuse of children,” stated a government official.

Advocates Push For Tighter Online Regulations

Advocates for tighter regulation of online pornography have urged the authorities to ban so-called “barely legal” material. This encompasses content featuring incest scenes or that appears to promote child sexual abuse by casting young-looking adults portraying children.

Suggested amendments to legislation seek to:

• Prohibit pornography where performers are impersonating children, sometimes recorded in settings like children’s bedrooms.
• Extend the offence of creating an indecent image of a child to cover material where an older performer plays the role of a child.
• Introduce tighter controls on incest-themed pornography, which research indicates is often promoted by site algorithms.
• Introduce additional controls on “nudification” software, potentially making it an offence to own tools designed to generate non-consensual nude images.
• Establish a new, separate oversight agency to conduct inspections on pornography sites and act on reports of illegal content.

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