UK Pornography Site Visits Declines After Identity Verifications, But VPN Use Spikes, Reports Regulator

Traffic to adult content sites in the UK has fallen significantly since the enforcement of mandatory age verification earlier this year, according to the country's communications regulator. Simultaneously, the use of tools designed to circumvent these restrictions has risen.

Immediate Drop in User Figures After Rule Enforcement

The enforcement of age vetting on 25 July led to an immediate reduction in traffic to leading pornography sites, including the top site in the UK. Figures indicates that visitor numbers to this platform in August reached 9.8 million, a decrease of 1.5 million from the same period in 2024.

In total, visitor numbers to the 10 top pornography sites in the UK have now stabilized at a significantly reduced level than before the end-of-July implementation date. Later data shows this decline in site visits persisted beyond August.

Surge in Virtual Private Network Adoption to Evade Restrictions

In response to the new rules, adoption of VPN software—which can get around geographic restrictions by masking internet traffic through another country—more than doubled after 25 July.

Usage peaked at over 1.4 million in mid-August, up from around 650,000 users prior to the verification were introduced. Subsequently, the watchdog noted that VPN usage has afterwards steadily declined, with latest numbers at approximately 900,000. It added that the level of daily VPN use remains “much lower” than user numbers for pornography sites.

Teenagers Responding to Harmful Material

Elsewhere, the regulator's report found that about 60% of young people aged 11 to 17 had acted after seeing distressing content on the internet. Actions ranged from reporting the material to the site to blocking the user who posted it.

This survey was carried out prior to new rules took effect that compel platforms to stop children from seeing dangerous content, including material related to self-harm and adult material. The most common way teenagers encountered such content was by scrolling through a social media feed, indicating that recommendation systems were serving harmful material.

Ministers Announce Review of Adult Content Laws

Separately, the government stated it would review the criminal law governing pornography to consider whether it is “fit for purpose” in the modern digital age.

“The examination will investigate the effectiveness of the existing law in regarding making illegal, for example, harmful depictions of incest and any forms of pornography which promote the abuse of children,” said a government official.

Advocates Call For Tighter Digital Controls

Advocates for tighter control of adult content have urged the authorities to ban so-called “barely legal” material. This encompasses content featuring incest scenes or that appears to promote abuse by using youthful performers portraying children.

Proposed changes to legislation seek to:

• Ban pornography where adults are mimicking children, sometimes recorded in environments like children’s bedrooms.
• Extend the crime of making an indecent image of a child to include material where an adult plays the role of a child.
• Apply tighter regulation on incest-themed pornography, which research suggests is often promoted by site algorithms.
• Introduce additional restrictions on “nudification” software, potentially making it an offence to own tools designed to generate private images without permission.
• Establish a new, separate regulatory body to conduct inspections on adult platforms and act on complaints of illegal content.

The campaigners argue that these measures would ensure the safeguards that have been enforced for decades in the physical world finally apply to the digital age.