British Adult Content Site Visits Declines After Identity Verifications, But VPN Use Surges, Reports Watchdog

Access to pornography websites in the UK has seen a notable drop after the roll-out of age-checking measures earlier this year, as reported by the country's communications regulator. At the same time, the use of tools designed to circumvent these restrictions has surged.

Immediate Fall in User Figures Following Law Implementation

The introduction of age vetting on 25 July resulted in an immediate decline in visits to popular pornography sites, such as the top provider in the UK. Figures shows that visitor numbers to this platform in August stood at 9.8 million, a decline of 1.5 million compared to the same period in 2024.

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

Surge in VPN Usage to Evade Checks

In response to the new regulations, use of VPN software—which can bypass geographic blocks by masking internet traffic through another nation—increased dramatically after 25 July.

Usage reached a high at more than 1.4 million in mid-August, up from approximately 650,000 people before the checks began. Subsequently, the regulator noted that VPN usage has since fallen back, with current numbers standing at approximately 900,000. It clarified that the level of regular VPN use is “much lower” than traffic for pornography sites.

Teenagers Taking Action to Damaging Online Content

Elsewhere, the watchdog's annual study revealed that about 60% of teenagers aged 11 to 17 had acted after encountering harmful content on the internet. Steps taken included flagging the content to the site to blocking the person who posted it.

This survey was conducted prior to new rules came into force that require social media companies to prevent children from accessing harmful content, such as material related to self-harm and adult material. The primary way young people came across such content was by scrolling through a platform feed, suggesting that algorithms were showing inappropriate material.

Government Launch Review of Adult Content Legislation

Separately, the ministers announced it would review the legislation governing pornography to consider whether it is effective in the ever-developing digital age.

“The examination will look into the effectiveness of the existing law in regarding criminalising, for example, harmful portrayals of familial abuse and any types of pornography which promote child sexual abuse,” stated a justice minister.

Campaigners Push For Stricter Online Controls

Advocates for tighter control of adult content have called on the authorities to outlaw so-called “barely legal” material. This includes content featuring simulated familial abuse or that encourages child sexual abuse by using youthful adults portraying children.

Suggested changes to legislation seek to:

• Ban pornography where adults are mimicking children, often recorded in settings like children’s bedrooms.
• Extend the offence of making an indecent image of a child to include material where an adult plays the role of a child.
• Apply tighter controls on familial abuse pornography, which research suggests is heavily recommended by site systems.
• Add additional controls on “nudification” software, potentially making it an illegal act to own tools designed to generate private images without permission.
• Create a new, independent oversight agency to conduct inspections on pornography sites and respond to complaints of unlawful content.

The advocates contend that these steps would ensure the safeguards that have existed for years in the physical world finally apply to the online sphere.