British Pornography Traffic Falls Following Identity Checks, But Virtual Private Network Usage Surges, Reports Watchdog

Visitor numbers to pornography sites in the UK has seen a notable drop after the enforcement of mandatory age verification earlier this year, as reported by the country's communications regulator. Simultaneously, the adoption of tools designed to bypass these blocks has increased.

Immediate Drop in User Numbers After Law Implementation

The enforcement of age vetting on 25 July led to an swift fall in traffic to popular pornography sites, such as the leading provider in the UK. Figures indicates that user traffic to this site in August stood at 9.8 million, a decline of 1.5 million compared to the equivalent month in 2024.

In total, visitor numbers to the ten most-visited adult services in the UK have now stabilized at a “lower level” than before the late July implementation date. Subsequent analysis indicates this decline in viewing persisted beyond August.

Sharp Increase in Virtual Private Network Usage to Evade Checks

In response to the new rules, use of VPN software—which can get around geographic restrictions by masking connections through another country—surged following 25 July.

Usage peaked at more than 1.4 million in the middle of August, rising from around 650,000 people before the verification began. However, the watchdog stated that VPN usage has since decreased, with current figures at approximately 900,000. It clarified that the volume of daily VPN use remains “much lower” than traffic for pornography sites.

Teenagers Responding to Harmful Material

Elsewhere, the regulator's annual study found that about 60% of young people aged 11 to 17 had acted after encountering damaging content on the internet. Actions included flagging the material to the platform to blocking the person who shared it.

This research was carried out prior to new regulations took effect that compel platforms to stop children from accessing harmful content, such as material related to self-harm and adult material. The primary way young people came across such content was by looking through a social media feed, suggesting that algorithms were showing harmful material.

Government Announce Review of Adult Content Laws

Separately, the government stated it would examine the legislation relating to pornography to assess whether it is adequate in the modern digital age.

“The review will investigate the effectiveness of the current law in relation to making illegal, among other things, damaging portrayals of familial abuse and any types of pornography which promote child sexual abuse,” stated a government official.

Advocates Call For Stricter Online Regulations

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

Suggested changes to government bills seek to:

• Prohibit pornography where adults are mimicking children, sometimes filmed in settings like children’s bedrooms.
• Extend the offence of creating an exploitative portrayal of a child to include material where an older performer acts the part of a child.
• Apply tighter regulation on incest-themed pornography, which research indicates is heavily recommended by platform systems.
• Introduce further controls on “nudification” technology, potentially making it an illegal act to own software designed to generate private images without permission.
• Establish a new, independent regulatory body to perform spot checks on pornography sites and act on reports of unlawful content.

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