British Adult Content Traffic Declines After Age Verifications, But Virtual Private Network Use Surges, States Watchdog

Traffic to adult content sites in the United Kingdom has seen a notable drop after the introduction of mandatory age verification this summer, as reported by the nation's communications watchdog. Simultaneously, the usage of specialist software designed to bypass these barriers has surged.

Sharp Drop in Visitor Figures Following Law Enforcement

The introduction of age verification on 25 July led to an immediate fall in visits to popular online adult platforms, such as the top provider in the UK. Data shows that visitor numbers to this site in August reached 9.8 million, a decrease of 1.5 million from the equivalent month in 2024.

Overall, traffic to the ten most-visited adult services in the UK have now settled at a significantly reduced level than prior to the late July deadline. Later data indicates this decline in viewing persisted past August.

Sharp Increase in Virtual Private Network Usage to Evade Restrictions

In response to the new regulations, use of Virtual Private Networks (VPNs)—which can bypass geographic blocks by routing internet traffic through another nation—increased dramatically after 25 July.

User numbers reached a high at more than 1.4 million in the middle of August, up from around 650,000 people prior to the verification began. However, the regulator noted that VPN usage has afterwards decreased, with current figures standing at around 900,000. It added that the level of regular VPN use remains “much lower” than traffic for adult services.

Young People Responding to Harmful Online Content

In other findings, the watchdog's report found that about 60% of teenagers aged 11 to 17 had acted after encountering damaging content online. Actions included flagging the content to the platform to muting the user who posted it.

This research was carried out prior to new regulations took effect that require platforms to prevent children from accessing dangerous content, such as material related to suicide and pornography. The most common way teenagers encountered such content was by looking through a social media feed, suggesting that algorithms were showing harmful material.

Ministers Launch Review of Pornography Legislation

Separately, the government announced it would review the criminal law relating to pornography to consider whether it is “fit for purpose” in the modern online world.

“The examination will investigate the effectiveness of the current law in relation to making illegal, for example, damaging depictions of familial abuse and any types of pornography which encourage child sexual abuse,” said a justice minister.

Campaigners Call For Stricter Online Controls

Advocates for tighter control of adult content have urged the government to ban so-called “barely legal” material. This encompasses content featuring incest scenes or that appears to promote child sexual abuse by casting youthful adults dressed as children.

Suggested amendments to government bills seek to:

• Ban pornography where adults are impersonating children, sometimes recorded in settings like children’s bedrooms.
• Extend the crime of making an exploitative portrayal of a child to include material where an adult acts the part of a child.
• Apply stricter controls on incest-themed pornography, which research indicates is heavily recommended by platform systems.
• Add further restrictions on “nudification” technology, potentially making it an offence to possess software designed to create private images without permission.
• Establish a new, separate oversight agency to conduct spot checks on pornography sites and respond to complaints of illegal content.

The advocates argue that these measures would ensure the protections that have existed for years offline finally apply to the digital age.