British Adult Content Site Visits Declines Following Identity Verifications, Yet Virtual Private Network Usage Spikes, States Regulator

Access to pornography platforms in the United Kingdom has decreased markedly since the introduction of age-checking measures this summer, as reported by the nation's communications regulator. Simultaneously, the usage of specialist software designed to bypass these barriers has surged.

Sharp Drop in User Figures Following Rule Enforcement

The introduction of age verification on 25 July led to an prompt fall in traffic to popular online adult platforms, including the top provider in the UK. Figures reveals that visitor numbers to this site in August stood at 9.8 million, a decrease of 1.5 million from the same period in 2024.

Overall, visitor numbers to the ten most-visited pornography sites in the UK have now stabilized at a significantly reduced level than prior to the end-of-July implementation date. Subsequent analysis indicates this decline in viewing persisted beyond August.

Sharp Increase in VPN Usage to Bypass Checks

Reacting to the new regulations, use of VPN software—which can circumvent location-based restrictions by routing connections through another nation—increased dramatically following 25 July.

User numbers reached a high at more than 1.4 million in mid-August, rising from approximately 650,000 people prior to the verification were introduced. Subsequently, the regulator stated that VPN usage has afterwards fallen back, with current figures at approximately 900,000. It added that the volume of daily VPN use is “much lower” than traffic for adult sites.

Teenagers Taking Action to Damaging Online Content

Elsewhere, the regulator's annual study found that about 60% of teenagers aged 11 to 17 had acted after seeing distressing content on the internet. Actions ranged from flagging the material to the platform to muting the person who shared it.

This survey was conducted prior to new regulations came into force that require social media companies to stop children from accessing harmful content, such as material related to suicide and adult material. The primary way teenagers came across such content was by scrolling through a platform feed, indicating that recommendation systems were showing harmful material.

Ministers Launch Examination of Adult Content Laws

Separately, the government stated it would examine the legislation governing pornography to consider whether it is adequate in the modern digital age.

“The review will investigate the efficacy of the current law in relation to making illegal, for example, harmful depictions of incest and any forms of pornography which encourage child sexual abuse,” said a government official.

Campaigners Push For Tighter Digital Controls

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

Proposed amendments to government bills aim to:

• Ban pornography where adults are mimicking children, sometimes filmed in environments like children’s bedrooms.
• Extend the offence of creating an exploitative portrayal of a child to include material where an adult plays the role of a child.
• Introduce tighter controls on incest-themed pornography, which research indicates is heavily recommended by platform algorithms.
• Add additional controls on “nudification” technology, potentially making it an illegal act to possess tools designed to create non-consensual nude images.
• Create a new, separate regulatory body to conduct inspections on pornography sites and act on complaints of unlawful content.

The campaigners argue that these steps would ensure the protections that have been enforced for decades offline finally are extended to the digital age.