UK Pornography Traffic Falls After Age Checks, Yet VPN Usage Spikes, States Regulator

Traffic to adult content websites in the UK has fallen significantly since the introduction of mandatory age verification earlier this year, as reported by the nation's communications authority. Concurrently, the use of tools designed to bypass these blocks has increased.

Immediate Drop in Visitor Figures Following Law Implementation

The enforcement of age vetting on 25 July caused an immediate reduction in traffic to leading pornography sites, including the leading provider in the UK. Figures shows that user traffic to this platform in August stood at 9.8 million, a decrease of 1.5 million from the equivalent month in 2024.

In total, visitor numbers to the ten most-visited pornography sites in the UK have now stabilized at a “lower level” than before the late July deadline. Subsequent data suggests this downward trend in site visits persisted past August.

Surge in VPN Adoption to Bypass Restrictions

Reacting to the new rules, use of Virtual Private Networks (VPNs)—which can circumvent location-based restrictions by masking connections through another nation—more than doubled after 25 July.

Usage peaked at more than 1.4 million in the middle of August, rising from around 650,000 people prior to the checks began. However, the watchdog stated that VPN usage has afterwards steadily declined, with latest figures standing at approximately 900,000. It clarified that the level of regular VPN use remains “much lower” than traffic for adult services.

Teenagers Taking Action to Damaging Online Content

Elsewhere, the regulator's report found that about 60% of teenagers aged 11 to 17 had acted after encountering damaging content on the internet. Actions included reporting the content to the site to blocking the user who posted it.

This survey was carried out before new rules came into force that require platforms to prevent children from seeing dangerous content, such as material related to suicide and pornography. The primary way young people came across such content was by looking through a platform timeline, suggesting that algorithms were showing harmful material.

Government Announce Review of Pornography Laws

In a related development, the ministers stated it would examine the criminal law relating to pornography to assess whether it is effective in the ever-developing online world.

“The examination will look into the efficacy of the existing law in regarding criminalising, among other things, harmful portrayals of incest and any forms of pornography which promote child sexual abuse,” said a justice minister.

Advocates Call For Tighter Digital Regulations

Advocates for better control of adult content have called on the government to ban so-called “barely legal” material. This encompasses content featuring incest scenes or that encourages abuse by using young-looking performers dressed as children.

Proposed changes to legislation aim to:

• Prohibit pornography where performers are mimicking children, often recorded in settings like children’s bedrooms.
• Broaden the crime of creating an indecent image of a child to cover material where an older performer plays the role of a child.
• Introduce tighter regulation on incest-themed pornography, which studies suggests is heavily recommended by site algorithms.
• Introduce additional controls on “nudification” software, potentially making it an offence to possess tools designed to generate private images without permission.
• Establish a new, separate oversight agency to conduct spot checks on pornography sites and act on reports of unlawful content.

The advocates argue that these measures would ensure the safeguards that have been enforced for years in the physical world finally are extended to the digital age.