British Pornography Traffic Falls After Age Checks, Yet Virtual Private Network Usage Spikes, Reports Watchdog

Visitor numbers to adult content sites in the United Kingdom has seen a notable drop after the introduction of mandatory age verification earlier this year, according to the country's communications regulator. Simultaneously, the usage of specialist software designed to bypass these barriers has risen.

Sharp Fall in User Numbers After Rule Enforcement

The introduction of age vetting on 25 July caused an immediate fall in traffic to major pornography sites, including the most visited provider in the UK. Data indicates that user traffic to this platform in August reached 9.8 million, a drop of 1.5 million compared to the equivalent month in 2024.

Overall, visitor numbers to the ten most-visited pornography sites in the UK have now settled at a “lower level” than prior to the late July deadline. Later analysis suggests this downward trend in site visits continued beyond August.

Sharp Increase in Virtual Private Network Adoption to Bypass Checks

In response to the new regulations, use of VPN software—which can circumvent location-based blocks by masking connections through another nation—more than doubled following 25 July.

User numbers peaked at more than 1.4 million in the middle of August, up from approximately 650,000 users before the checks were introduced. However, the watchdog noted that VPN usage has afterwards fallen back, with latest numbers at around 900,000. It clarified that the volume of regular VPN use is “much lower” than traffic for adult sites.

Young People Responding to Damaging Material

In other findings, the watchdog's report revealed that about 60% of young people aged 11 to 17 had taken action after seeing harmful content on the internet. Actions ranged from reporting the material to the site to muting the user who shared it.

This survey was conducted prior to new regulations came into force that compel platforms to prevent children from accessing dangerous content, including material related to suicide and adult material. The primary way teenagers came across such content was by scrolling through a platform timeline, indicating that recommendation systems were showing harmful material.

Government Announce Examination of Pornography Laws

In a related development, the government announced it would examine the criminal law relating to pornography to assess whether it is adequate in the ever-developing online world.

“The review will look into the efficacy of the current law in relation to making illegal, for example, damaging portrayals of familial abuse and any types of pornography which promote child sexual abuse,” stated a justice minister.

Advocates Call For Tighter Online Controls

Campaigners for tighter control of adult content have urged the authorities to outlaw so-called “barely legal” material. This includes content featuring incest scenes or that appears to promote abuse by using young-looking adults dressed as children.

Suggested amendments to legislation seek to:

• Ban pornography where performers are impersonating children, sometimes recorded in environments like children’s bedrooms.
• Broaden the crime of making an indecent image of a child to cover material where an adult plays the role of a child.
• Introduce tighter regulation on familial abuse pornography, which studies suggests is heavily recommended by site algorithms.
• Add additional controls on “nudification” software, potentially making it an illegal act to possess software designed to create non-consensual nude images.
• Create a new, separate oversight agency to perform spot checks on pornography sites and act on reports of unlawful content.

The advocates argue that these steps would ensure the protections that have existed for years offline finally apply to the online sphere.