UK Adult Content Site Visits Falls After Age Checks, But Virtual Private Network Usage Surges, States Regulator

Visitor numbers to adult content sites in the UK has decreased markedly since the roll-out of age-checking measures this summer, as reported by the country's communications watchdog. Concurrently, the adoption of specialist software designed to bypass these blocks has surged.

Immediate Fall in Visitor Figures Following Rule Enforcement

The introduction of age verification on 25 July caused an swift decline in visits to leading pornography sites, such as the most visited site in the UK. Figures shows that user traffic to this platform in August were 9.8 million, a drop of 1.5 million from the equivalent month in 2024.

In total, traffic to the ten most-visited pornography sites in the UK have now settled at a markedly decreased volume than before the end-of-July implementation date. Later analysis suggests this decline in site visits continued beyond August.

Surge in Virtual Private Network Usage to Bypass Checks

Reacting to the new rules, use of VPN software—which can circumvent geographic restrictions by routing internet traffic through another country—more than doubled after 25 July.

User numbers reached a high at more than 1.4 million in the middle of August, rising from approximately 650,000 people before the verification began. Subsequently, the regulator stated that VPN usage has since fallen back, with latest numbers standing at around 900,000. It clarified that the volume of regular VPN use remains “much lower” than user numbers for adult services.

Teenagers Responding to Harmful Material

In other findings, the watchdog's annual study revealed that about 60% of teenagers aged 11 to 17 had taken action after encountering damaging content online. Steps taken included flagging the material to the platform to blocking the user who posted it.

This survey was conducted prior to new rules took effect that require social media companies to stop children from seeing dangerous content, including material related to suicide and adult material. The most common way young people encountered such content was by looking through a social media timeline, indicating that recommendation systems were serving harmful material.

Government Launch Examination of Pornography Laws

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

“The review will investigate the effectiveness of the current law in regarding making illegal, among other things, harmful depictions of incest and any forms of pornography which promote child sexual abuse,” stated a justice minister.

Advocates Push For Stricter Online Regulations

Campaigners for tighter regulation of online pornography have called on the government to ban so-called “barely legal” material. This includes content featuring simulated familial abuse or that appears to promote abuse by casting youthful performers portraying children.

Proposed amendments to government bills aim to:

• Prohibit pornography where performers are mimicking children, often filmed in environments like children’s bedrooms.
• Extend the offence of creating an exploitative portrayal of a child to cover material where an older performer plays the role of a child.
• Apply tighter regulation on familial abuse pornography, which studies indicates is often promoted by site algorithms.
• Add further controls on “nudification” technology, potentially making it an offence to own tools designed to generate private images without permission.
• Create a new, separate regulatory body to conduct spot checks on adult platforms and act on complaints of unlawful content.

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