UK Adult Content Site Visits Declines Following Identity Checks, Yet Virtual Private Network Use Surges, Reports Regulator

Traffic to adult content websites in the UK has decreased markedly since the introduction of age-checking measures earlier this year, according to the nation's communications regulator. Simultaneously, the adoption of tools designed to bypass these barriers has risen.

Immediate Fall in User Figures Following Rule Implementation

The introduction of age vetting on 25 July led to an immediate reduction in traffic to popular pornography sites, such as the top site in the UK. Data reveals that visitor numbers to this site in August reached 9.8 million, a decline of 1.5 million compared to the equivalent month in 2024.

Overall, traffic to the 10 top pornography sites in the UK have now settled at a significantly reduced level than before the late July implementation date. Subsequent analysis shows this downward trend in site visits persisted past August.

Surge in Virtual Private Network Usage to Evade Restrictions

Reacting to the new regulations, use of VPN software—which can get around location-based blocks by routing connections via another country—more than doubled after 25 July.

User numbers reached a high at more than 1.4 million in the middle of August, up from around 650,000 people prior to the verification began. However, the regulator noted that VPN usage has afterwards decreased, with latest numbers at around 900,000. It added that the level of regular VPN use is “much lower” than traffic for adult sites.

Teenagers Responding to Damaging Material

Elsewhere, the regulator's report found that about 60% of teenagers aged 11 to 17 had acted after seeing harmful content on the internet. Steps taken included reporting the content to the platform to muting the person who shared it.

This research was carried out prior to new rules came into force that compel social media companies to prevent children from seeing dangerous content, such as material related to suicide and adult material. The most common way young people encountered such content was by scrolling through a platform timeline, suggesting that algorithms were serving inappropriate material.

Government Announce Review of Adult Content Legislation

In a related development, the ministers announced it would examine the criminal law governing pornography to assess whether it is effective in the modern online world.

“The review will investigate the effectiveness of the current law in regarding making illegal, for example, damaging portrayals of incest and any forms of pornography which encourage the abuse of children,” stated a government official.

Campaigners Call For Tighter Online Regulations

Advocates for better control of adult content have called on the authorities to outlaw so-called “barely legal” material. This includes content featuring simulated familial abuse or that encourages abuse by using youthful performers portraying children.

Proposed changes to government bills aim to:

• Prohibit pornography where performers are mimicking children, sometimes recorded in settings like children’s bedrooms.
• Broaden the crime of creating an indecent image of a child to include material where an adult plays the role of a child.
• Introduce tighter controls on familial abuse pornography, which studies suggests is often promoted by site algorithms.
• Add additional restrictions on “nudification” technology, potentially making it an offence to possess tools designed to generate non-consensual nude images.
• Create a new, separate oversight agency to conduct spot checks on pornography sites and respond to reports of unlawful content.

The advocates contend that these steps would ensure the protections that have existed for decades in the physical world finally are extended to the digital age.