British Adult Content Site Visits Falls After Age Checks, But Virtual Private Network Use Surges, Reports Regulator

Traffic to pornography platforms in the United Kingdom has seen a notable drop since the roll-out of age-checking measures this summer, as reported by the nation's communications authority. Simultaneously, the use of specialist software designed to dodge these barriers has risen.

Sharp Drop in Visitor Numbers Following Law Implementation

The enforcement of age verification on 25 July resulted in an prompt fall in traffic to leading online adult platforms, such as the top provider in the UK. Figures shows that user traffic to this site in August stood at 9.8 million, a drop of 1.5 million compared to the same period in 2024.

Overall, traffic to the ten top adult services in the UK have now settled at a “lower level” than before the late July deadline. Subsequent data suggests this downward trend in viewing persisted beyond August.

Sharp Increase in VPN Adoption to Evade Restrictions

Reacting to the new regulations, adoption of Virtual Private Networks (VPNs)—which can circumvent location-based blocks by masking connections via another nation—more than doubled after 25 July.

Usage reached a high at over 1.4 million in mid-August, up from around 650,000 users prior to the checks were introduced. However, the watchdog stated that VPN usage has afterwards steadily declined, with current numbers at around 900,000. It clarified that the level of daily VPN use remains “much lower” than user numbers for pornography sites.

Teenagers Responding to Damaging Material

Elsewhere, the regulator's report found that about 60% of teenagers aged 11 to 17 had taken action after seeing harmful content on the internet. Steps taken included flagging the material to the site to muting the person who posted it.

This survey was conducted prior to new rules took effect that require social media companies to prevent children from accessing harmful content, such as material related to self-harm and pornography. The most common way teenagers encountered such content was by scrolling through a social media timeline, suggesting that recommendation systems were showing inappropriate material.

Government Announce Review of Pornography Laws

Separately, the ministers announced it would examine the criminal law relating to pornography to consider whether it is “fit for purpose” in the modern online world.

“The examination will look into the effectiveness of the existing law in relation to making illegal, among other things, damaging depictions of incest and any types of pornography which promote the abuse of children,” said a government official.

Campaigners Push For Stricter Online Controls

Campaigners for tighter control of adult content have urged the government to outlaw so-called “barely legal” material. This includes content featuring incest scenes or that encourages child sexual abuse by using youthful performers dressed as children.

Suggested amendments to legislation aim to:

• Prohibit pornography where adults are mimicking children, often filmed in environments like children’s bedrooms.
• Extend the offence of creating an indecent image of a child to cover material where an older performer plays the role of a child.
• Introduce tighter regulation on familial abuse pornography, which studies suggests is often promoted by site algorithms.
• Add additional restrictions on “nudification” technology, potentially making it an offence to own tools designed to create non-consensual nude images.
• Create a new, separate oversight agency to perform spot checks on adult platforms and respond to reports of unlawful content.

The campaigners argue that these steps would ensure the protections that have existed for decades offline finally apply to the online sphere.