British Adult Content Traffic Falls After Age Verifications, Yet Virtual Private Network Usage Spikes, States Watchdog

Traffic to adult content sites in the United Kingdom has decreased markedly since the introduction of age-checking measures this summer, as reported by the nation's communications authority. Simultaneously, the use of tools designed to bypass these blocks has surged.

Immediate Drop in Visitor Figures After Law Enforcement

The enforcement of age vetting on 25 July resulted in an prompt reduction in traffic to popular online adult platforms, including the most visited provider in the UK. Figures reveals that visitor numbers to this site in August reached 9.8 million, a decline of 1.5 million from the equivalent month in 2024.

Overall, traffic to the ten most-visited adult services in the UK have now settled at a “lower level” than before the late July deadline. Subsequent analysis suggests this decline in viewing persisted beyond August.

Sharp Increase in VPN Adoption to Bypass Restrictions

Reacting to the new rules, adoption of Virtual Private Networks (VPNs)—which can get around location-based blocks by masking internet traffic through another nation—surged following 25 July.

User numbers peaked at more than 1.4 million in mid-August, rising from approximately 650,000 users before the verification were introduced. Subsequently, the watchdog noted that VPN usage has afterwards decreased, with latest numbers at approximately 900,000. It clarified that the volume of daily VPN use is “much lower” than traffic for adult sites.

Teenagers Responding to Harmful Material

Elsewhere, the regulator's report found that about 60% of young people aged 11 to 17 had taken action after encountering distressing content online. Actions included flagging the material to the site to blocking the user who posted it.

This research was carried out prior to new rules took effect that compel social media companies to prevent children from seeing dangerous content, including material related to suicide and pornography. The primary way young people came across such content was by looking through a social media timeline, suggesting that algorithms were serving inappropriate material.

Government Launch Review of Pornography Legislation

In a related development, the government announced it would review the legislation governing pornography to consider whether it is “fit for purpose” in the modern online world.

“The review will look into the effectiveness of the current law in regarding criminalising, for example, harmful portrayals of familial abuse and any forms of pornography which encourage the abuse of children,” stated a government official.

Advocates Call For Stricter Online Regulations

Advocates for tighter regulation of adult content have urged the authorities to outlaw so-called “barely legal” material. This encompasses content featuring incest scenes or that appears to promote child sexual abuse by casting youthful performers portraying children.

Suggested changes to government bills aim to:

• Prohibit pornography where performers are impersonating children, often filmed in settings like children’s bedrooms.
• Extend the offence of making an indecent image of a child to include material where an older performer plays the role of a child.
• Apply stricter controls on incest-themed pornography, which studies suggests is heavily recommended by platform systems.
• Add additional controls on “nudification” technology, potentially making it an illegal act to own tools designed to create private images without permission.
• Create a new, separate regulatory body to conduct inspections on pornography sites and respond to complaints of illegal content.

The campaigners argue that these steps would ensure the safeguards that have existed for decades offline finally are extended to the online sphere.