British Pornography Site Visits Falls After Age Verifications, Yet Virtual Private Network Usage Spikes, Reports Regulator

Access to adult content sites in the UK has seen a notable drop since the roll-out of age-checking measures earlier this year, as reported by the nation's communications authority. Concurrently, the usage of specialist software designed to dodge these blocks has increased.

Sharp Fall in Visitor Figures Following Rule Enforcement

The enforcement of age verification on 25 July caused an swift fall in traffic to leading pornography sites, such as the most visited site in the UK. Figures indicates that user traffic to this site in August stood at 9.8 million, a decline 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 stabilized at a markedly decreased volume than prior to the late July deadline. Subsequent analysis shows this decline in site visits continued past August.

Surge in Virtual Private Network Adoption to Evade Restrictions

Reacting to the new regulations, adoption of Virtual Private Networks (VPNs)—which can bypass location-based blocks by routing internet traffic via another country—surged following 25 July.

Usage reached a high at over 1.4 million in the middle of August, rising from approximately 650,000 people prior to the verification were introduced. Subsequently, the watchdog stated that VPN usage has afterwards decreased, with latest numbers standing at approximately 900,000. It clarified that the level of daily VPN use remains “much lower” than user numbers for pornography services.

Teenagers Taking Action to Harmful Online Content

Elsewhere, the watchdog's report revealed that about 60% of teenagers aged 11 to 17 had acted after seeing distressing content online. Steps taken included flagging the material to the site to muting the user who posted it.

This research was carried out prior to new regulations came into force that require social media companies to prevent children from accessing dangerous content, such as material related to self-harm and pornography. The most common way young people encountered such content was by scrolling through a social media timeline, indicating that recommendation systems were serving inappropriate material.

Government Announce Review of Pornography Legislation

Separately, the government announced it would review the criminal law relating to pornography to assess whether it is “fit for purpose” in the modern online world.

“The examination will investigate the efficacy of the existing law in regarding making illegal, for example, damaging portrayals of familial abuse and any forms of pornography which promote child sexual abuse,” stated a justice minister.

Campaigners Call For Stricter Digital Regulations

Advocates for tighter control of adult content have called on the government to ban so-called “barely legal” material. This encompasses content featuring simulated familial abuse or that encourages child sexual abuse by using youthful performers portraying children.

Proposed changes to government bills seek to:

• Prohibit pornography where adults are impersonating children, often recorded in environments like children’s bedrooms.
• Broaden the crime of creating an exploitative portrayal of a child to include material where an adult acts the part of a child.
• Apply stricter regulation on incest-themed pornography, which research indicates is heavily recommended by site algorithms.
• Add additional restrictions on “nudification” technology, potentially making it an offence to own software designed to generate private images without permission.
• Establish a new, separate oversight agency to conduct inspections on pornography sites and act on reports of illegal content.

The campaigners argue that these steps would ensure the protections that have existed for decades in the physical world finally apply to the digital age.