UK Pornography Traffic Falls After Identity Checks, But Virtual Private Network Use Spikes, States Watchdog

Access to adult content websites in the UK has fallen significantly after the roll-out of mandatory age verification earlier this year, as reported by the country's communications regulator. Concurrently, the adoption of specialist software designed to circumvent these blocks has surged.

Sharp Drop in Visitor Figures Following Rule Implementation

The introduction of age verification on 25 July caused an immediate reduction in traffic to popular pornography sites, such as the top site in the UK. Figures indicates that visitor numbers to this site in August reached 9.8 million, a decline of 1.5 million compared to the equivalent month in 2024.

In total, visitor numbers to the ten most-visited pornography sites in the UK have now stabilized at a markedly decreased volume than before the late July implementation date. Later analysis suggests this downward trend in site visits continued past August.

Surge in Virtual Private Network Adoption to Evade Checks

Reacting to the new rules, adoption of Virtual Private Networks (VPNs)—which can circumvent location-based restrictions by masking internet traffic through another nation—increased dramatically after 25 July.

Usage peaked at over 1.4 million in mid-August, up from approximately 650,000 users before the verification were introduced. However, the watchdog stated that VPN usage has since decreased, with current figures at approximately 900,000. It added that the level of regular VPN use remains “much lower” than traffic for pornography services.

Young People Responding to Damaging Material

In other findings, the regulator's annual study revealed that about 60% of young people aged 11 to 17 had taken action after seeing damaging content online. Steps taken included flagging the content to the site to blocking the person who posted it.

This research was conducted prior to new rules came into force that compel platforms to prevent children from accessing harmful content, such as material related to self-harm and adult material. The primary way young people encountered such content was by scrolling through a platform feed, suggesting that algorithms were serving inappropriate material.

Ministers Launch Review of Adult Content Legislation

Separately, the ministers announced it would examine the legislation governing pornography to consider whether it is “fit for purpose” in the ever-developing online world.

“The examination will investigate the effectiveness of the current law in relation to criminalising, among other things, harmful portrayals of incest and any forms of pornography which encourage the abuse of children,” stated a government official.

Advocates Push For Stricter Digital Regulations

Campaigners for tighter regulation of online pornography have called on the government to outlaw so-called “barely legal” material. This includes content featuring incest scenes or that appears to promote child sexual abuse by using young-looking adults portraying children.

Suggested amendments to government bills aim to:

• Prohibit pornography where adults are impersonating children, often recorded in settings like children’s bedrooms.
• Extend the crime of making an exploitative portrayal of a child to cover material where an older performer plays the role of a child.
• Apply tighter regulation on incest-themed pornography, which studies suggests is often promoted by site systems.
• Introduce further restrictions on “nudification” software, potentially making it an illegal act to own tools designed to generate 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 argue that these steps would ensure the safeguards that have been enforced for decades offline finally are extended to the digital age.