UK Adult Content Traffic Declines Following Identity Verifications, But Virtual Private Network Usage Spikes, States Regulator

Access to adult content sites in the United Kingdom has decreased markedly since the introduction of mandatory age verification this summer, according to the country's communications watchdog. At the same time, the use of tools designed to bypass these blocks has increased.

Sharp Drop in User Numbers After Rule Implementation

The enforcement of age vetting on 25 July resulted in an immediate decline in traffic to leading pornography sites, such as the top provider in the UK. Figures indicates that user traffic to this site in August reached 9.8 million, a decline of 1.5 million from the equivalent month in 2024.

Overall, traffic to the ten most-visited adult services in the UK have now settled at a “lower level” than prior to the late July deadline. Later analysis indicates this decline in viewing continued beyond August.

Sharp Increase in VPN Adoption to Evade Restrictions

In response to the new regulations, use of Virtual Private Networks (VPNs)—which can get around geographic restrictions by routing internet traffic through another nation—surged following 25 July.

User numbers reached a high at over 1.4 million in mid-August, up from around 650,000 users before the checks were introduced. However, the regulator stated that VPN usage has since fallen back, with current numbers at approximately 900,000. It clarified that the volume of daily VPN use remains “much lower” than user numbers for pornography services.

Teenagers Taking Action to Damaging Material

Elsewhere, the watchdog's annual study found that about 60% of teenagers aged 11 to 17 had acted after encountering harmful content online. Actions included reporting the material to the platform to blocking the user who posted it.

This survey was carried out prior to new regulations came into force that compel platforms to prevent children from seeing harmful content, including material related to suicide and pornography. The primary way young people encountered such content was by looking through a social media timeline, suggesting that algorithms were serving harmful material.

Government Announce Examination of Adult Content Laws

Separately, the government stated it would examine the criminal law relating to pornography to assess whether it is effective in the ever-developing digital age.

“The examination will look into the effectiveness of the current law in regarding making illegal, among other things, damaging depictions of familial abuse and any types of pornography which encourage the abuse of children,” said a justice minister.

Campaigners Call For Stricter Digital Controls

Campaigners for tighter control of adult content have urged the government to ban so-called “barely legal” material. This includes content featuring incest scenes or that encourages child sexual abuse by casting youthful adults portraying children.

Suggested changes to government bills seek to:

• Prohibit pornography where adults are mimicking children, often filmed in environments like children’s bedrooms.
• Extend the crime of creating an indecent image of a child to include material where an adult plays the role of a child.
• Apply tighter regulation on familial abuse pornography, which research indicates is often promoted by platform systems.
• Introduce additional restrictions on “nudification” software, potentially making it an illegal act to possess tools designed to create non-consensual nude images.
• Create a new, independent oversight agency to conduct spot checks on pornography sites and respond to complaints of illegal content.

The advocates argue that these steps would ensure the safeguards that have been enforced for years offline finally are extended to the digital age.