UK Pornography Traffic Falls After Age Checks, But VPN Usage Surges, States Regulator

Traffic to adult content platforms in the UK has seen a notable drop after the roll-out of age-checking measures this summer, according to the country's communications authority. Concurrently, the use of tools designed to circumvent these restrictions has risen.

Immediate Fall in User Numbers Following Law Implementation

The enforcement of age verification on 25 July resulted in an swift reduction in traffic to major online adult platforms, such as the most visited provider in the UK. Data shows that visitor numbers to this site in August stood at 9.8 million, a drop of 1.5 million from the same period in 2024.

In total, traffic to the ten top pornography sites in the UK have now stabilized at a “lower level” than before the late July implementation date. Subsequent analysis shows this slump in site visits continued past August.

Surge in VPN Usage to Bypass Restrictions

Reacting to the new regulations, use of Virtual Private Networks (VPNs)—which can bypass location-based blocks by routing connections through another nation—surged after 25 July.

User numbers peaked at over 1.4 million in the middle of August, up from approximately 650,000 users prior to the checks began. However, the watchdog stated that VPN usage has afterwards fallen back, with current figures at around 900,000. It clarified that the volume of daily VPN use remains “much lower” than user numbers for pornography services.

Teenagers Taking Action to Damaging Online Content

In other findings, the regulator's report revealed that about 60% of teenagers aged 11 to 17 had acted after encountering damaging content online. Steps taken included reporting the content to the site to blocking the person who shared it.

This research was conducted prior to new rules took effect that compel platforms to prevent children from seeing harmful content, such as material related to self-harm and adult material. The most common way young people came across such content was by scrolling through a platform timeline, suggesting that recommendation systems were showing inappropriate material.

Ministers Announce Examination of Adult Content Legislation

Separately, the ministers announced it would review the legislation governing pornography to assess whether it is effective in the ever-developing digital age.

“The review will look into the effectiveness of the current law in relation to making illegal, among other things, damaging depictions of familial abuse and any types of pornography which promote child sexual abuse,” said a justice minister.

Campaigners Push For Tighter Online Regulations

Advocates for better control of online pornography have urged the government to ban so-called “barely legal” material. This includes content featuring simulated familial abuse or that appears to promote child sexual abuse by using youthful adults dressed as children.

Suggested amendments to legislation seek to:

• Ban pornography where adults are impersonating children, sometimes recorded in settings like children’s bedrooms.
• Extend the crime of making an exploitative portrayal of a child to cover 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 site systems.
• Add additional restrictions on “nudification” technology, potentially making it an offence to possess tools designed to generate private images without permission.
• Create a new, separate regulatory body to perform inspections on pornography sites and act on complaints of unlawful content.

The advocates contend that these steps would ensure the safeguards that have been enforced for decades offline finally are extended to the online sphere.