UK Pornography Site Visits Falls After Identity Checks, But Virtual Private Network Usage Surges, Reports Regulator

Visitor numbers to adult content websites in the United Kingdom has decreased markedly since the roll-out of age-checking measures this summer, as reported by the country's communications authority. Concurrently, the adoption of specialist software designed to circumvent these blocks has increased.

Immediate Fall in User Numbers After Rule Enforcement

The introduction of age verification on 25 July resulted in an immediate fall in traffic to leading pornography sites, including the leading provider in the UK. Figures indicates that visitor numbers to this site in August reached 9.8 million, a decrease of 1.5 million compared to the same period in 2024.

In total, traffic to the 10 most-visited adult services in the UK have now settled at a markedly decreased volume than prior to the late July implementation date. Subsequent analysis indicates this decline in viewing persisted beyond August.

Surge in VPN Adoption to Evade Restrictions

Reacting to the new rules, adoption of VPN software—which can bypass location-based blocks by masking internet traffic via another country—increased dramatically after 25 July.

User numbers reached a high at over 1.4 million in the middle of August, up from around 650,000 people before the checks began. However, the watchdog stated that VPN usage has afterwards steadily declined, with current figures standing at approximately 900,000. It clarified that the volume of regular VPN use is “much lower” than traffic for pornography sites.

Young People Taking Action to Harmful Online Content

In other findings, the regulator's annual study found that about 60% of teenagers aged 11 to 17 had taken action after seeing damaging content online. Actions included reporting the material to the platform to muting the person who shared it.

This research was conducted prior to new regulations came into force that require platforms to stop children from seeing harmful content, including material related to suicide and pornography. The most common way teenagers came across such content was by looking through a platform timeline, indicating that algorithms were showing harmful material.

Government Launch Examination of Pornography Laws

Separately, the government announced it would review the criminal law relating to pornography to assess whether it is “fit for purpose” in the ever-developing digital age.

“The examination will investigate the efficacy of the current law in regarding criminalising, for example, damaging portrayals of familial abuse and any forms of pornography which encourage child sexual abuse,” said a government official.

Campaigners Call For Stricter Online Controls

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

Proposed amendments to government bills aim to:

• Prohibit pornography where performers are impersonating children, sometimes recorded in environments like children’s bedrooms.
• Extend the offence of making an indecent image of a child to cover material where an older performer acts the part of a child.
• Apply tighter controls on familial abuse pornography, which research suggests is often promoted by site algorithms.
• Introduce additional controls on “nudification” technology, potentially making it an illegal act to own tools designed to create private images without permission.
• Establish a new, independent oversight agency to perform inspections on adult platforms and respond to reports of unlawful content.

The advocates contend that these measures would ensure the safeguards that have been enforced for decades offline finally apply to the digital age.