UK Adult Content Traffic Falls Following Identity Verifications, Yet Virtual Private Network Use Surges, States Regulator

Access to adult content sites in the United Kingdom has fallen significantly since the enforcement of age-checking measures earlier this year, as reported by the nation's communications authority. At the same time, the use of specialist software designed to bypass these barriers has risen.

Sharp Drop in User Numbers After Law Enforcement

The enforcement of age verification on 25 July led to an swift decline in visits to leading online adult platforms, including the most visited provider in the UK. Figures indicates that visitor numbers to this site in August were 9.8 million, a decline of 1.5 million from the equivalent month in 2024.

In total, traffic to the 10 top pornography sites in the UK have now stabilized at a significantly reduced level than prior to the end-of-July deadline. Subsequent data shows this slump in site visits continued beyond August.

Surge in VPN Usage to Evade Restrictions

Reacting to the new rules, adoption of VPN software—which can get around location-based blocks by masking connections via another nation—surged after 25 July.

User numbers peaked at over 1.4 million in mid-August, rising from around 650,000 users prior to the verification were introduced. Subsequently, the regulator stated that VPN usage has since fallen back, with latest figures standing at around 900,000. It added that the level of daily VPN use remains “much lower” than user numbers for adult services.

Young People Taking Action to Damaging Material

In other findings, the regulator's report revealed that about 60% of young people 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 shared it.

This research was carried out before new rules came into force that require platforms to prevent children from seeing harmful content, including material related to self-harm and adult material. The primary way young people encountered such content was by looking through a platform timeline, indicating that algorithms were showing harmful material.

Government Announce Examination of Pornography Laws

In a related development, the ministers announced it would examine the criminal law relating to pornography to assess whether it is effective in the modern digital age.

“The examination will look into the effectiveness of the existing law in relation to criminalising, among other things, damaging portrayals of incest and any types of pornography which promote the abuse of children,” stated a justice minister.

Campaigners Call For Stricter Digital Controls

Campaigners for better regulation of adult content have called on the government to ban so-called “barely legal” material. This includes content featuring incest scenes or that appears to promote child sexual abuse by casting young-looking performers portraying children.

Suggested changes to legislation seek to:

• Ban pornography where adults are impersonating children, often filmed in environments like children’s bedrooms.
• Broaden the crime of creating an indecent image of a child to include material where an older performer acts the part of a child.
• Apply stricter regulation on familial abuse pornography, which research suggests is heavily recommended by platform algorithms.
• Add further restrictions on “nudification” technology, potentially making it an offence to own software designed to generate non-consensual nude images.
• Establish a new, independent oversight agency to perform inspections on adult platforms and act on complaints of unlawful content.

The campaigners argue that these steps would ensure the safeguards that have existed for decades in the physical world finally apply to the digital age.