UK Adult Content Traffic Declines Following Age Verifications, Yet VPN Use Surges, States Regulator

Visitor numbers to adult content platforms in the United Kingdom has seen a notable drop after the roll-out of age-checking measures this summer, as reported by the country's communications regulator. Concurrently, the usage of tools designed to bypass these barriers has increased.

Sharp Fall in User Figures After Law Implementation

The introduction of age vetting on 25 July caused an immediate fall in visits to leading online adult platforms, including the leading site in the UK. Data indicates that user traffic to this site in August reached 9.8 million, a decrease of 1.5 million compared to the equivalent month in 2024.

Overall, visitor numbers to the 10 most-visited adult services in the UK have now settled at a markedly decreased volume than before the late July implementation date. Subsequent data suggests this slump in site visits persisted beyond August.

Sharp Increase in Virtual Private Network Usage to Evade Checks

In response to the new rules, adoption of VPN software—which can circumvent location-based blocks by routing connections through another country—surged after 25 July.

User numbers reached a high at over 1.4 million in mid-August, rising from approximately 650,000 people prior to the verification were introduced. However, the regulator stated that VPN usage has afterwards decreased, with current figures standing at approximately 900,000. It added that the level of daily VPN use is “much lower” than user numbers for adult services.

Teenagers Responding to Harmful Material

Elsewhere, the watchdog's annual study found that about 60% of teenagers aged 11 to 17 had acted after encountering damaging content on the internet. Actions included flagging the material to the platform to muting the person who posted it.

This research was conducted before new regulations came into force that require social media companies to stop children from accessing harmful content, including material related to suicide and adult material. The primary way young people came across such content was by looking through a social media feed, suggesting that algorithms were showing harmful material.

Ministers Launch Review of Pornography Laws

Separately, the government announced it would examine the criminal law relating to pornography to consider whether it is effective in the ever-developing digital age.

“The review will look into the efficacy of the existing law in relation to making illegal, for example, damaging portrayals of incest and any types of pornography which encourage child sexual abuse,” said a justice minister.

Campaigners Push For Tighter Online Controls

Campaigners for better regulation of adult content have urged the government to outlaw so-called “barely legal” material. This includes content featuring simulated familial abuse or that encourages child sexual abuse by casting youthful adults dressed as children.

Proposed amendments to government bills seek to:

• Ban pornography where adults are impersonating children, sometimes filmed in settings like children’s bedrooms.
• Broaden the offence of making an indecent image of a child to cover material where an adult acts the part of a child.
• Apply tighter controls on incest-themed pornography, which research suggests is often promoted by site systems.
• Add additional restrictions on “nudification” technology, potentially making it an offence to own tools designed to create non-consensual nude images.
• Establish a new, separate oversight agency to conduct spot checks on pornography sites and act on reports of unlawful content.

The advocates contend that these measures would ensure the protections that have existed for decades in the physical world finally apply to the digital age.