British Pornography Traffic Falls After Age Verifications, Yet Virtual Private Network Usage Spikes, States Watchdog

Visitor numbers to adult content platforms in the United Kingdom has decreased markedly since the enforcement of mandatory age verification this summer, as reported by the nation's communications authority. Simultaneously, the adoption of specialist software designed to dodge these restrictions has increased.

Immediate Drop in Visitor Numbers After Rule Enforcement

The enforcement of age vetting on 25 July resulted in an swift fall in visits to leading pornography sites, such as the most visited 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 same period in 2024.

In total, visitor numbers to the 10 top adult services in the UK have now stabilized at a significantly reduced level than prior to the late July deadline. Subsequent analysis suggests this slump in viewing persisted past August.

Sharp Increase in VPN Adoption to Evade Restrictions

Reacting to the new rules, adoption of VPN software—which can get around geographic blocks by masking connections via another nation—more than doubled following 25 July.

User numbers peaked at over 1.4 million in the middle of August, up from around 650,000 users prior to the checks were introduced. However, the watchdog noted that VPN usage has since decreased, with current numbers at approximately 900,000. It clarified that the level of regular VPN use is “much lower” than user numbers for adult services.

Young People Taking Action to Harmful Material

Elsewhere, the regulator's annual study revealed that about 60% of teenagers aged 11 to 17 had acted after encountering distressing content on the internet. Steps taken included flagging the material to the platform to blocking the person who shared it.

This research was conducted prior to new rules took effect that require social media companies to stop children from seeing harmful content, such as material related to self-harm and pornography. The most common way young people encountered such content was by scrolling through a social media timeline, suggesting that algorithms were serving harmful material.

Ministers Launch Review of Pornography Legislation

In a related development, the government announced it would examine the legislation governing pornography to assess whether it is effective in the modern digital age.

“The examination will investigate the effectiveness of the current law in relation to making illegal, among other things, harmful portrayals of incest and any forms of pornography which encourage the abuse of children,” stated a justice minister.

Advocates Push For Stricter Online Controls

Advocates for tighter control of online pornography have called on the government to ban so-called “barely legal” material. This encompasses content featuring simulated familial abuse or that appears to promote abuse by casting young-looking performers dressed as children.

Suggested changes to government bills seek to:

• Ban pornography where adults are impersonating children, often filmed in environments like children’s bedrooms.
• Broaden the offence of making an exploitative portrayal of a child to cover material where an adult plays the role of a child.
• Apply tighter regulation on familial abuse pornography, which research suggests is often promoted by site algorithms.
• Introduce additional restrictions on “nudification” technology, potentially making it an illegal act to possess software designed to generate non-consensual nude images.
• Establish a new, independent oversight agency to conduct inspections on pornography sites and respond to complaints of illegal content.

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