British Pornography Traffic Declines After Age Verifications, Yet VPN Usage Spikes, Reports Regulator

Visitor numbers to adult content sites in the United Kingdom has fallen significantly since the introduction of mandatory age verification earlier this year, as reported by the country's communications authority. Simultaneously, the use of tools designed to circumvent these barriers has increased.

Sharp Fall in User Figures Following Law Enforcement

The enforcement of age verification on 25 July resulted in an immediate fall in traffic to popular pornography sites, including the top provider in the UK. Figures shows that user traffic to this platform in August stood at 9.8 million, a decline of 1.5 million from the equivalent month in 2024.

Overall, visitor numbers to the 10 top adult services in the UK have now settled at a “lower level” than before the end-of-July implementation date. Subsequent analysis indicates this downward trend in site visits persisted beyond August.

Sharp Increase in VPN Usage to Evade Restrictions

In response to the new rules, use of Virtual Private Networks (VPNs)—which can get around geographic restrictions by routing internet traffic via another nation—more than doubled after 25 July.

Usage peaked at more than 1.4 million in mid-August, up from approximately 650,000 people prior to the checks began. However, the regulator stated that VPN usage has since steadily declined, with latest figures at around 900,000. It added that the volume of regular VPN use remains “much lower” than user numbers for pornography sites.

Young People Responding to Harmful Online Content

In other findings, the watchdog's report found that about 60% of young people aged 11 to 17 had acted after encountering distressing content online. Actions ranged from flagging the content to the platform to muting the user who posted it.

This survey was conducted before new regulations came into force that require social media companies to stop children from accessing harmful content, including material related to self-harm and adult material. The primary way young people came across such content was by looking through a social media timeline, suggesting that algorithms were showing harmful material.

Ministers Launch Review of Pornography Legislation

In a related development, the ministers announced it would review the legislation relating to pornography to consider whether it is adequate in the ever-developing digital age.

“The examination will investigate the efficacy of the current law in relation to criminalising, for example, harmful depictions of incest and any types of pornography which promote child sexual abuse,” said a government official.

Advocates Call For Tighter Digital Regulations

Advocates for better regulation of adult content have called on the authorities to outlaw so-called “barely legal” material. This includes content featuring incest scenes or that encourages abuse by casting youthful adults dressed as children.

Proposed amendments to government bills seek to:

• Prohibit pornography where adults are impersonating children, often recorded in environments like children’s bedrooms.
• Extend the crime of making an exploitative portrayal of a child to include material where an adult plays the role of a child.
• Introduce stricter regulation on familial abuse pornography, which research suggests is heavily recommended by platform algorithms.
• Add further controls on “nudification” technology, potentially making it an offence to possess software designed to generate non-consensual nude images.
• Establish a new, separate oversight agency to conduct inspections on adult platforms and respond to complaints of unlawful content.

The advocates contend that these measures would ensure the safeguards that have existed for years in the physical world finally apply to the digital age.