British Pornography Site Visits Falls After Age Verifications, But VPN Usage Surges, States Regulator

Visitor numbers to adult content websites in the UK has seen a notable drop since the introduction of age-checking measures this summer, as reported by the nation's communications authority. Concurrently, the use of specialist software designed to dodge these restrictions has surged.

Sharp Fall in User Numbers Following Rule Implementation

The introduction of age vetting on 25 July led to an prompt fall in traffic to leading online adult platforms, such as the most visited provider in the UK. Figures shows that visitor numbers to this platform in August were 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 significantly reduced level than prior to the end-of-July deadline. Later data suggests this decline in viewing persisted past August.

Surge in Virtual Private Network Adoption to Evade Restrictions

In response to the new rules, adoption of VPN software—which can circumvent geographic restrictions by masking connections through another nation—more than doubled after 25 July.

User numbers reached a high at more than 1.4 million in mid-August, rising from around 650,000 people prior to the checks were introduced. However, the regulator stated that VPN usage has since steadily declined, with current numbers at around 900,000. It added that the level of regular VPN use is “much lower” than user numbers for pornography services.

Young People Taking Action to Harmful Material

Elsewhere, the regulator's annual study revealed that about 60% of young people aged 11 to 17 had acted after encountering distressing content online. Steps taken ranged from flagging the content to the site to blocking the user who posted it.

This research was conducted prior to new rules took effect that require platforms to prevent children from seeing dangerous content, such as material related to suicide and adult material. The most common way young people encountered such content was by scrolling through a social media timeline, suggesting that recommendation systems were serving inappropriate material.

Government Launch Examination of Adult Content Legislation

Separately, the government announced it would examine 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 criminalising, among other things, damaging portrayals of familial abuse and any forms of pornography which encourage child sexual abuse,” said a government official.

Campaigners Push For Tighter Online Regulations

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

Proposed changes to legislation seek to:

• Prohibit pornography where adults are mimicking children, often recorded in environments like children’s bedrooms.
• Extend the crime of creating an indecent image of a child to cover material where an older performer acts the part of a child.
• Apply tighter regulation on incest-themed pornography, which studies suggests is heavily recommended by platform systems.
• Add further restrictions on “nudification” software, potentially making it an offence to own tools designed to create private images without permission.
• Create a new, independent oversight agency to perform inspections on pornography sites and act on reports of unlawful content.

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