British Pornography Site Visits Declines Following Age Checks, But VPN Use Surges, States Regulator

Traffic to pornography sites in the United Kingdom has fallen significantly after the roll-out of mandatory age verification earlier this year, as reported by the nation's communications authority. At the same time, the usage of tools designed to dodge these blocks has risen.

Immediate Fall in Visitor Numbers After Law Enforcement

The enforcement of age vetting on 25 July led to an immediate reduction in visits to major online adult platforms, such as the top provider in the UK. Data reveals that visitor numbers to this site in August stood at 9.8 million, a drop 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 before the end-of-July implementation date. Later data suggests this slump in site visits continued beyond August.

Surge in VPN Adoption to Bypass Restrictions

Reacting to the new rules, use of Virtual Private Networks (VPNs)—which can circumvent geographic blocks by routing connections via another country—surged after 25 July.

Usage reached a high at more than 1.4 million in mid-August, rising from around 650,000 users before the checks were introduced. However, the watchdog stated that VPN usage has afterwards decreased, with latest numbers standing at around 900,000. It clarified that the volume of regular VPN use remains “much lower” than traffic for pornography sites.

Young People Responding to Harmful Material

In other findings, the regulator's annual study found that about 60% of teenagers aged 11 to 17 had taken action after seeing damaging content on the internet. Steps taken included flagging the material to the site to blocking the person who shared it.

This survey was conducted before new regulations came into force that require platforms to stop children from seeing harmful content, including material related to self-harm and adult material. The primary way young people came across such content was by scrolling through a social media feed, indicating that recommendation systems were showing inappropriate material.

Government Announce Examination of Adult Content Legislation

Separately, the ministers announced it would review the legislation governing pornography to consider whether it is adequate in the modern digital age.

“The review will look into the effectiveness of the existing law in relation to making illegal, for example, harmful depictions of incest and any types of pornography which encourage child sexual abuse,” said a government official.

Advocates Call For Tighter Online Regulations

Advocates for better control of adult content 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 using young-looking adults dressed as children.

Proposed amendments to legislation aim to:

• Ban pornography where adults are impersonating children, sometimes recorded in environments like children’s bedrooms.
• Extend the offence of making an exploitative portrayal of a child to cover material where an adult plays the role of a child.
• Introduce tighter controls on incest-themed pornography, which studies suggests is heavily recommended by platform systems.
• Add additional controls on “nudification” software, potentially making it an illegal act to own tools designed to create non-consensual nude images.
• Establish a new, independent regulatory body to conduct inspections on adult platforms and respond to reports of illegal content.

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