UK Adult Content Traffic Declines After Identity Verifications, But VPN Usage Surges, Reports Watchdog

Traffic to pornography platforms in the UK has decreased markedly since the enforcement of mandatory age verification this summer, according to the country's communications watchdog. Concurrently, the use of tools designed to circumvent these blocks has risen.

Sharp Fall in Visitor Numbers After Law Enforcement

The enforcement of age vetting on 25 July led to an prompt reduction in visits to leading online adult platforms, including the top provider in the UK. Figures reveals that visitor numbers to this platform in August stood at 9.8 million, a decline of 1.5 million compared to the equivalent month in 2024.

In total, visitor numbers to the ten most-visited adult services in the UK have now stabilized at a significantly reduced level than prior to the end-of-July implementation date. Later data suggests this slump in viewing continued past August.

Surge in VPN Adoption to Bypass Restrictions

In response to the new regulations, use of VPN software—which can get around location-based blocks by routing connections via another country—more than doubled after 25 July.

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

Young People Responding to Harmful Online Content

Elsewhere, the watchdog's annual study found that about 60% of young people aged 11 to 17 had taken action after encountering distressing content on the internet. Steps taken ranged from flagging the material to the site to blocking the user who posted it.

This research was carried out before new regulations came into force that require platforms to stop children from seeing harmful content, including material related to suicide and pornography. The most common way young people encountered such content was by scrolling through a social media feed, indicating that recommendation systems were serving harmful material.

Ministers Announce Review of Pornography Legislation

In a related development, the ministers stated it would examine the legislation relating to pornography to consider whether it is effective in the ever-developing digital age.

“The examination will investigate the effectiveness of the existing law in relation to making illegal, among other things, damaging portrayals of familial abuse and any forms of pornography which promote the abuse of children,” stated a justice minister.

Advocates Push For Stricter Digital Regulations

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

Proposed changes to government bills seek to:

• Ban pornography where adults are impersonating children, sometimes recorded in environments like children’s bedrooms.
• Extend the crime of making an exploitative portrayal of a child to include material where an older performer plays the role of a child.
• Introduce stricter regulation on familial abuse pornography, which studies indicates is often promoted by site systems.
• Add additional controls on “nudification” technology, potentially making it an offence to own tools designed to generate private images without permission.
• Create a new, separate oversight agency to conduct inspections on adult platforms and act on reports of unlawful content.

The advocates argue that these measures would ensure the protections that have been enforced for years offline finally apply to the online sphere.