British Adult Content Traffic Declines Following Identity Checks, Yet Virtual Private Network Use Spikes, States Watchdog

Traffic to adult content platforms in the UK has decreased markedly after the enforcement of age-checking measures this summer, as reported by the nation's communications watchdog. At the same time, the usage of tools designed to dodge these restrictions has surged.

Immediate Drop in Visitor Figures Following Rule Implementation

The introduction of age verification on 25 July resulted in an swift decline in traffic to popular online adult platforms, including the leading site in the UK. Data indicates that visitor numbers to this site in August stood at 9.8 million, a decline of 1.5 million from the same period 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 implementation date. Subsequent analysis suggests this decline in site visits persisted beyond August.

Surge in Virtual Private Network Adoption to Evade Restrictions

In response to the new regulations, adoption of Virtual Private Networks (VPNs)—which can get around geographic blocks by routing connections via another nation—more than doubled after 25 July.

Usage reached a high at more than 1.4 million in the middle of August, rising from approximately 650,000 users before the checks were introduced. Subsequently, the watchdog stated that VPN usage has since decreased, with latest numbers at approximately 900,000. It added that the volume of regular VPN use remains “much lower” than user numbers for pornography services.

Teenagers Taking Action to Damaging Online Content

In other findings, the watchdog's annual study found that about 60% of young people aged 11 to 17 had taken action after seeing damaging content on the internet. Actions included reporting the material to the site to blocking the person who shared it.

This research was conducted before new rules took effect that require platforms to stop children from accessing dangerous content, such as material related to suicide and adult material. The most common way teenagers came across such content was by looking through a social media timeline, indicating that recommendation systems were serving harmful material.

Government Announce Review of Adult Content Laws

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

“The examination will look into the effectiveness of the current law in regarding criminalising, among other things, harmful depictions of familial abuse and any types of pornography which encourage child sexual abuse,” said a justice minister.

Advocates Call For Tighter Digital Regulations

Advocates for better regulation of online pornography have called on the government to outlaw so-called “barely legal” material. This encompasses content featuring incest scenes or that appears to promote abuse by using young-looking adults portraying children.

Suggested changes to legislation aim to:

• Ban pornography where performers are mimicking children, sometimes filmed in settings like children’s bedrooms.
• Extend the crime of creating an exploitative portrayal of a child to include material where an older performer acts the part of a child.
• Introduce tighter regulation on familial abuse pornography, which research suggests is often promoted by site systems.
• Add further controls on “nudification” technology, potentially making it an offence to own tools designed to generate non-consensual nude images.
• Create a new, separate oversight agency to conduct inspections on adult platforms and act on reports of illegal content.

The campaigners argue that these measures would ensure the protections that have existed for years offline finally apply to the digital age.