British Adult Content Traffic Falls After Identity Verifications, But VPN Usage Spikes, States Regulator
Access to adult content platforms in the UK has seen a notable drop after the introduction of age-checking measures earlier this year, as reported by the country's communications watchdog. Concurrently, the adoption of tools designed to circumvent these blocks has surged.
Immediate Drop in User Figures After Rule Implementation
The introduction of age verification on 25 July led to an prompt decline in visits to popular pornography sites, including the most visited provider in the UK. Figures shows that visitor numbers to this platform in August reached 9.8 million, a decrease of 1.5 million compared to the equivalent month in 2024.
Overall, traffic to the 10 most-visited adult services in the UK have now settled at a markedly decreased volume than before the late July deadline. Later data suggests this downward trend in viewing persisted beyond August.
Surge in Virtual Private Network Adoption to Bypass Checks
In response to the new regulations, adoption of VPN software—which can get around location-based restrictions by masking internet traffic via another country—increased dramatically after 25 July.
User numbers reached a high at over 1.4 million in mid-August, up from around 650,000 people before the verification were introduced. However, the watchdog stated that VPN usage has since decreased, with current numbers at approximately 900,000. It clarified that the volume of daily VPN use remains “much lower” than traffic for pornography sites.
Teenagers Responding to Harmful Online Content
In other findings, the regulator's report revealed that about 60% of young people aged 11 to 17 had acted after seeing distressing content on the internet. Steps taken ranged from flagging the material to the platform to muting the user who shared it.
This survey was conducted before new regulations came into force that require social media companies to prevent children from accessing harmful content, such as material related to self-harm and pornography. The most common way teenagers encountered such content was by looking through a platform feed, indicating that algorithms were showing harmful material.
Ministers Announce Examination of Pornography Legislation
Separately, the government announced it would review the legislation relating to pornography to assess whether it is effective in the ever-developing online world.
“The examination will investigate the effectiveness of the current law in relation to criminalising, among other things, damaging depictions of incest and any forms of pornography which encourage the abuse of children,” said a justice minister.
Advocates Call For Tighter Digital Controls
Campaigners for tighter control of adult content have called on the authorities to ban so-called “barely legal” material. This includes content featuring simulated familial abuse or that appears to promote abuse by using young-looking performers dressed as children.
Suggested changes to legislation seek to:
- Ban pornography where adults are mimicking children, sometimes filmed in settings like children’s bedrooms.
- Broaden the offence of creating an indecent image of a child to cover material where an older performer plays the role of a child.
- Apply stricter regulation on incest-themed pornography, which studies indicates is heavily recommended by site systems.
- Introduce further controls on “nudification” software, potentially making it an offence to possess tools designed to create non-consensual nude images.
- Create a new, independent oversight agency to conduct spot checks on pornography sites and act on reports of unlawful content.
The campaigners argue that these measures would ensure the protections that have existed for decades in the physical world finally apply to the digital age.
