UK Pornography Traffic Falls Following Age Verifications, But VPN Use Spikes, States Watchdog

Access to adult content sites in the United Kingdom has decreased markedly since the enforcement of age-checking measures earlier this year, as reported by the country's communications watchdog. Simultaneously, the use of specialist software designed to dodge these barriers has increased.

Immediate Fall in Visitor Figures After Law Implementation

The enforcement of age vetting on 25 July led to an immediate fall in visits to major pornography sites, such as the top site in the UK. Data reveals that visitor numbers to this platform in August were 9.8 million, a drop of 1.5 million compared to the equivalent month in 2024.

In total, visitor numbers to the 10 most-visited pornography sites in the UK have now stabilized at a “lower level” than prior to the late July implementation date. Later analysis suggests this downward trend in viewing continued past August.

Sharp Increase in VPN Adoption to Bypass Checks

Reacting to the new rules, use of VPN software—which can bypass geographic restrictions by routing connections via another country—increased dramatically following 25 July.

Usage reached a high at more than 1.4 million in the middle of August, rising from approximately 650,000 people before the verification were introduced. Subsequently, the watchdog stated that VPN usage has afterwards steadily declined, with current numbers at approximately 900,000. It clarified that the volume of regular VPN use is “much lower” than user numbers for pornography sites.

Teenagers Responding to Damaging Material

In other findings, the watchdog's report found that about 60% of young people aged 11 to 17 had taken action after encountering distressing content on the internet. Steps taken ranged from reporting the material to the platform to blocking the person who posted it.

This research was carried out before new rules came into force that compel platforms to stop children from accessing harmful content, including material related to suicide and pornography. The most common way teenagers came across such content was by looking through a platform feed, indicating that algorithms were serving inappropriate material.

Ministers Launch Examination of Adult Content Legislation

Separately, the ministers announced it would examine the legislation governing pornography to assess whether it is effective in the ever-developing online world.

“The examination will investigate the effectiveness of the existing law in relation to criminalising, among other things, harmful depictions of familial abuse and any types of pornography which encourage the abuse of children,” stated a government official.

Advocates Push For Tighter Online Regulations

Campaigners for tighter regulation of online pornography have called on the government to outlaw so-called “barely legal” material. This encompasses content featuring incest scenes or that appears to promote abuse by casting youthful performers portraying children.

Proposed amendments to legislation seek to:

• Prohibit pornography where performers are impersonating children, sometimes filmed in environments like children’s bedrooms.
• Broaden the offence of making an indecent image of a child to include material where an adult acts the part of a child.
• Introduce tighter controls on familial abuse pornography, which research indicates is heavily recommended by site systems.
• Introduce additional restrictions on “nudification” software, potentially making it an offence to own tools designed to generate private images without permission.
• Create a new, independent regulatory body to perform inspections on pornography sites and respond to reports of unlawful content.

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