UK Pornography Site Visits Declines Following Age Verifications, But VPN Usage Spikes, States Regulator
Access to adult content platforms in the United Kingdom has fallen significantly since the enforcement of mandatory age verification this summer, as reported by the country's communications regulator. Concurrently, the use of specialist software designed to dodge these blocks has increased.
Sharp Drop in Visitor Figures Following Rule Enforcement
The introduction of age verification on 25 July caused an swift decline in traffic to popular pornography sites, such as the most visited site in the UK. Data indicates that visitor numbers to this platform in August reached 9.8 million, a drop of 1.5 million compared to the same period in 2024.
In total, visitor numbers to the 10 most-visited adult services in the UK have now settled at a significantly reduced level than prior to the end-of-July deadline. Subsequent analysis shows this downward trend in site visits persisted beyond August.
Sharp Increase in Virtual Private Network Adoption to Evade Restrictions
Reacting to the new rules, use of VPN software—which can circumvent 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 users before the verification began. However, the watchdog noted that VPN usage has since steadily declined, with latest figures standing at around 900,000. It added that the volume of daily VPN use remains “much lower” than traffic for adult services.
Young People Responding to Harmful Online Content
In other findings, the regulator's annual study revealed that about 60% of teenagers aged 11 to 17 had taken action after encountering distressing content on the internet. Steps taken ranged from flagging the content to the platform to muting the user who posted it.
This research was carried out before new rules came into force that require platforms to stop children from accessing dangerous 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 algorithms were showing inappropriate material.
Ministers Launch Review of Adult Content Legislation
In a related development, the government announced it would examine the criminal law relating to pornography to consider whether it is effective in the ever-developing digital age.
“The examination will investigate the effectiveness of the existing law in relation to making illegal, among other things, harmful depictions of familial abuse and any types of pornography which promote the abuse of children,” stated a justice minister.
Advocates Call For Stricter Digital Controls
Campaigners for tighter control of adult content have called on the authorities to ban so-called “barely legal” material. This encompasses content featuring simulated familial abuse or that appears to promote abuse by casting youthful adults portraying children.
Suggested changes to government bills seek to:
- Prohibit pornography where adults are mimicking children, sometimes filmed in environments like children’s bedrooms.
- Broaden the crime of making an indecent image of a child to cover material where an adult acts the part of a child.
- Apply tighter regulation on incest-themed pornography, which studies suggests is often promoted by platform algorithms.
- Add additional restrictions on “nudification” technology, potentially making it an illegal act to own tools designed to generate private images without permission.
- Create a new, independent regulatory body to conduct spot checks on adult platforms and act on complaints of illegal content.
The advocates contend that these steps would ensure the protections that have been enforced for years in the physical world finally apply to the online sphere.