British Adult Content Traffic Falls After Age Checks, But Virtual Private Network Use Spikes, States Regulator

Traffic to pornography platforms in the UK has fallen significantly since the enforcement of age-checking measures this summer, as reported by the country's communications regulator. Concurrently, the adoption of specialist software designed to circumvent these blocks has surged.

Sharp Drop in Visitor Numbers Following Law Implementation

The introduction of age verification on 25 July caused an prompt decline in visits to major pornography sites, such as the leading provider in the UK. Figures shows that visitor numbers to this platform in August stood at 9.8 million, a drop of 1.5 million compared to the same period in 2024.

Overall, traffic to the 10 most-visited adult services in the UK have now settled at a “lower level” than prior to the end-of-July implementation date. Later data indicates this slump in viewing persisted beyond August.

Sharp Increase in Virtual Private Network Usage to Bypass Restrictions

In response to the new rules, adoption of VPN software—which can bypass geographic restrictions by routing internet traffic via another nation—increased dramatically following 25 July.

User numbers reached a high at over 1.4 million in the middle of August, up from around 650,000 people before the verification began. However, the watchdog noted that VPN usage has afterwards steadily declined, with current numbers standing at approximately 900,000. It added that the level of daily VPN use remains “much lower” than traffic for pornography sites.

Young People Responding to Harmful Material

Elsewhere, the watchdog's annual study revealed that about 60% of teenagers aged 11 to 17 had acted after seeing damaging content online. Actions ranged from flagging the material to the platform to blocking the person who shared it.

This research was conducted prior to new regulations came into force that compel social media companies to prevent children from seeing dangerous content, such as material related to self-harm and adult material. The most common way young people encountered such content was by looking through a social media feed, indicating that algorithms were serving harmful material.

Ministers Announce Examination of Adult Content Laws

In a related development, the ministers announced it would examine the criminal law governing pornography to consider whether it is adequate in the ever-developing digital age.

“The review will look into the effectiveness of the existing law in relation to criminalising, among other things, damaging depictions of incest and any types of pornography which promote the abuse of children,” said a government official.

Advocates Push For Stricter Online Regulations

Advocates for better regulation of online pornography have urged the authorities to ban so-called “barely legal” material. This encompasses content featuring incest scenes or that appears to promote abuse by casting young-looking adults dressed as children.

Suggested amendments to government bills aim to:

• Ban pornography where performers are mimicking children, often recorded in environments like children’s bedrooms.
• Extend the offence of creating an indecent image of a child to include material where an older performer acts the part of a child.
• Introduce stricter controls on familial abuse pornography, which studies indicates is heavily recommended by site systems.
• Add further controls on “nudification” technology, potentially making it an illegal act to possess software designed to create private images without permission.
• Establish a new, independent regulatory body to conduct inspections on pornography sites and act on complaints of unlawful content.

The campaigners argue that these steps would ensure the safeguards that have existed for years offline finally apply to the online sphere.