UK Adult Content Site Visits Falls After Identity Verifications, But VPN Usage Surges, Reports Watchdog

Access to pornography platforms in the United Kingdom has decreased markedly since the introduction of mandatory age verification earlier this year, as reported by the nation's communications watchdog. Concurrently, the usage of tools designed to dodge these barriers has increased.

Sharp Fall in Visitor Numbers After Rule Enforcement

The enforcement of age vetting on 25 July caused an prompt reduction in traffic to leading online adult platforms, including the leading provider in the UK. Data indicates that visitor numbers to this site in August stood at 9.8 million, a decrease of 1.5 million compared to the same period in 2024.

In total, traffic to the ten most-visited adult services in the UK have now stabilized at a “lower level” than prior to the end-of-July implementation date. Later data indicates this decline in viewing persisted past August.

Sharp Increase in VPN Adoption to Bypass Restrictions

Reacting to the new rules, adoption of Virtual Private Networks (VPNs)—which can get around location-based restrictions by routing connections through another nation—surged after 25 July.

Usage peaked at over 1.4 million in mid-August, up from approximately 650,000 users prior to the checks were introduced. Subsequently, the regulator stated that VPN usage has since steadily declined, with latest figures at around 900,000. It added that the volume of daily VPN use remains “much lower” than user numbers for adult sites.

Young People Taking Action to Damaging Online Content

Elsewhere, the watchdog's annual study found that about 60% of teenagers aged 11 to 17 had taken action after encountering damaging content online. Steps taken included flagging the material to the platform to blocking the user who shared it.

This survey was conducted prior to new rules came into force that compel social media companies to prevent children from seeing harmful content, such as material related to suicide and adult material. The primary way teenagers encountered such content was by scrolling through a social media feed, indicating that algorithms were serving harmful material.

Government Announce Examination of Adult Content Legislation

In a related development, the ministers stated it would examine the criminal law governing pornography to assess whether it is adequate in the ever-developing digital age.

“The examination will look into the effectiveness of the current law in relation to making illegal, among other things, harmful portrayals of familial abuse and any types of pornography which promote child sexual abuse,” said a government official.

Advocates Call For Stricter Digital Regulations

Campaigners for better control of adult content have called on the authorities to outlaw so-called “barely legal” material. This encompasses content featuring incest scenes or that encourages abuse by using young-looking adults portraying children.

Suggested amendments to government bills aim to:

• Prohibit pornography where performers are impersonating children, sometimes filmed in environments like children’s bedrooms.
• Broaden the crime of creating an exploitative portrayal of a child to cover material where an adult plays the role of a child.
• Introduce tighter regulation on incest-themed pornography, which research indicates is heavily recommended by site systems.
• Add additional restrictions on “nudification” technology, potentially making it an illegal act to own software designed to generate non-consensual nude images.
• Create a new, independent oversight agency to conduct inspections on pornography sites and respond to reports of unlawful content.

The campaigners argue that these measures would ensure the protections that have existed for decades in the physical world finally are extended to the digital age.