UK Adult Content Site Visits Falls Following Age Checks, Yet VPN Usage Spikes, Reports Watchdog

Access to adult content websites in the UK has fallen significantly after the enforcement of mandatory age verification earlier this year, according to the country's communications authority. Simultaneously, the adoption of tools designed to bypass these blocks has increased.

Immediate Drop in Visitor Figures Following Rule Implementation

The introduction of age verification on 25 July resulted in an immediate decline in visits to major pornography sites, such as the most visited provider in the UK. Figures indicates that visitor numbers to this platform in August were 9.8 million, a decline of 1.5 million from the equivalent month in 2024.

In total, visitor numbers to the ten most-visited pornography sites in the UK have now stabilized at a significantly reduced level than before the late July implementation date. Subsequent data shows this decline in site visits continued beyond August.

Sharp Increase in VPN Adoption to Evade Restrictions

Reacting to the new regulations, use of VPN software—which can bypass geographic restrictions by masking internet traffic via another nation—more than doubled following 25 July.

Usage reached a high at more than 1.4 million in mid-August, up from approximately 650,000 users prior to the verification were introduced. However, the regulator noted that VPN usage has afterwards fallen back, with current numbers at around 900,000. It clarified that the volume of daily VPN use is “much lower” than traffic for pornography services.

Teenagers Taking Action to Damaging Online Content

Elsewhere, the regulator's report revealed that about 60% of young people aged 11 to 17 had taken action after encountering distressing content on the internet. Actions included reporting the material to the site to muting the person who posted it.

This survey was carried out before new regulations took effect that compel platforms to stop children from accessing harmful content, such as material related to suicide and pornography. The most common way teenagers encountered such content was by scrolling through a social media timeline, indicating that recommendation systems were serving inappropriate material.

Ministers Launch Examination of Pornography Laws

In a related development, the ministers stated it would review the criminal law governing pornography to assess whether it is adequate in the modern digital age.

“The review will investigate the effectiveness of the existing law in regarding criminalising, for example, damaging depictions of incest and any forms of pornography which encourage child sexual abuse,” said a government official.

Campaigners Call For Tighter Digital Controls

Advocates for tighter control of online pornography have called on the authorities to ban so-called “barely legal” material. This includes content featuring incest scenes or that encourages child sexual abuse by casting young-looking adults portraying children.

Suggested amendments to government bills aim to:

• Ban pornography where adults are mimicking children, often recorded in environments like children’s bedrooms.
• Broaden the offence of creating an indecent image of a child to cover material where an adult acts the part of a child.
• Introduce stricter controls on incest-themed pornography, which studies suggests is heavily recommended by site systems.
• Add further controls on “nudification” software, potentially making it an offence to own software designed to generate non-consensual nude images.
• Establish a new, separate regulatory body to perform spot checks on adult platforms and act on reports of unlawful content.

The campaigners contend that these steps would ensure the safeguards that have existed for years in the physical world finally apply to the online sphere.