UK Pornography Traffic Falls After Identity Checks, Yet VPN Usage Spikes, States Regulator

Visitor numbers to pornography platforms in the United Kingdom has decreased markedly after the enforcement of age-checking measures this summer, according to the country's communications authority. Concurrently, the adoption of tools designed to circumvent these restrictions has risen.

Sharp Drop in Visitor Numbers After Rule Implementation

The introduction of age verification on 25 July led to an immediate fall in visits to major pornography sites, including the leading provider in the UK. Figures shows that visitor numbers to this platform in August reached 9.8 million, a decline of 1.5 million from the equivalent month in 2024.

Overall, visitor numbers to the 10 top adult services in the UK have now settled at a markedly decreased volume than before the late July deadline. Later analysis shows this downward trend in viewing continued past August.

Sharp Increase in Virtual Private Network Adoption to Evade Checks

Reacting to the new regulations, adoption of Virtual Private Networks (VPNs)—which can circumvent geographic restrictions by routing internet traffic through another country—more than doubled following 25 July.

Usage reached a high at more than 1.4 million in the middle of August, up from approximately 650,000 people prior to the verification began. However, the regulator noted that VPN usage has afterwards decreased, with latest figures at approximately 900,000. It clarified that the volume of daily VPN use remains “much lower” than user numbers for adult sites.

Young People Taking Action to Damaging Material

Elsewhere, the watchdog's report found that about 60% of teenagers aged 11 to 17 had acted after seeing distressing content online. Steps taken included reporting the material to the platform to blocking the user who posted it.

This survey was carried out before new rules took effect that require social media companies to prevent children from seeing dangerous content, including material related to suicide and pornography. The most common way teenagers encountered such content was by looking through a platform feed, suggesting that recommendation systems were serving harmful material.

Ministers Announce Review of Adult Content Laws

Separately, the ministers stated it would review the legislation relating to pornography to assess whether it is “fit for purpose” in the ever-developing online world.

“The examination will look into the effectiveness of the current law in regarding making illegal, for example, harmful depictions of familial abuse and any forms of pornography which promote child sexual abuse,” said a justice minister.

Campaigners Push For Stricter Online Regulations

Advocates for tighter regulation of adult content have urged the authorities to ban so-called “barely legal” material. This includes content featuring simulated familial abuse or that encourages abuse by casting youthful performers dressed as children.

Proposed amendments to government bills seek to:

• Prohibit pornography where performers are mimicking children, often recorded in environments like children’s bedrooms.
• Broaden the crime of creating an exploitative portrayal of a child to include material where an adult acts the part of a child.
• Introduce stricter regulation on familial abuse pornography, which research suggests is heavily recommended by platform systems.
• Introduce further restrictions on “nudification” software, potentially making it an illegal act to possess software designed to create private images without permission.
• Establish a new, separate regulatory body to conduct spot checks on adult platforms and respond to reports of unlawful content.

The campaigners contend that these steps would ensure the protections that have existed for years offline finally apply to the digital age.