British Adult Content Site Visits Declines After Identity Verifications, But VPN Usage Spikes, Reports Watchdog

Visitor numbers to pornography sites in the United Kingdom has decreased markedly after the introduction of age-checking measures this summer, as reported by the country's communications regulator. Concurrently, the use of specialist software designed to bypass these blocks has risen.

Sharp Drop in User Numbers After Law Implementation

The enforcement of age vetting on 25 July led to an prompt decline in visits to major pornography sites, such as the leading site in the UK. Data indicates that user traffic to this site in August were 9.8 million, a drop of 1.5 million compared to the equivalent month in 2024.

Overall, visitor numbers to the 10 top pornography sites in the UK have now settled at a significantly reduced level than before the late July implementation date. Later analysis shows this decline in site visits continued beyond August.

Surge in VPN Usage to Evade Restrictions

Reacting to the new rules, use of VPN software—which can circumvent location-based restrictions by masking internet traffic via another country—increased dramatically after 25 July.

User numbers peaked at more than 1.4 million in the middle of August, rising from around 650,000 people before the verification began. Subsequently, the watchdog stated that VPN usage has since steadily declined, with current figures at around 900,000. It added that the level of regular VPN use remains “much lower” than user numbers for adult sites.

Young People Taking Action to Damaging Online Content

Elsewhere, the regulator's annual study 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 reporting the content to the site to muting the user who shared it.

This survey was carried out before new rules took effect that require platforms to stop children from seeing harmful content, including material related to self-harm and adult material. The most common way teenagers encountered such content was by looking through a social media timeline, indicating that recommendation systems were serving harmful material.

Ministers Announce Examination of Adult Content Legislation

Separately, the government announced it would examine the legislation 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 portrayals of incest and any forms of pornography which promote the abuse of children,” stated a justice minister.

Advocates Call For Tighter Digital Regulations

Advocates for tighter control of online pornography 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 casting youthful adults portraying children.

Proposed changes to legislation seek to:

• Prohibit pornography where adults are impersonating children, often filmed in environments like children’s bedrooms.
• Extend the offence of creating an indecent image of a child to include material where an older performer acts the part of a child.
• Apply tighter regulation on incest-themed pornography, which research suggests is often promoted by platform algorithms.
• Add further restrictions on “nudification” software, potentially making it an offence to possess tools designed to generate private images without permission.
• Establish a new, independent oversight agency to conduct inspections on adult platforms and act on reports of illegal content.

The campaigners argue that these steps would ensure the safeguards that have been enforced for decades in the physical world finally are extended to the digital age.