UK Pornography Traffic Declines Following Age Checks, Yet Virtual Private Network Usage Spikes, States Watchdog

Traffic to adult content sites in the United Kingdom has fallen significantly since the introduction of age-checking measures this summer, as reported by the country's communications watchdog. Simultaneously, the adoption of tools designed to bypass these blocks has increased.

Immediate Fall in User Numbers Following Law Implementation

The introduction of age verification on 25 July caused an swift decline in visits to leading online adult platforms, such as the leading provider in the UK. Figures shows that user traffic to this platform in August stood at 9.8 million, a drop of 1.5 million from the equivalent month in 2024.

In total, traffic to the ten most-visited pornography sites in the UK have now stabilized at a “lower level” than prior to the end-of-July deadline. Later analysis shows this decline in viewing persisted beyond August.

Surge in VPN Adoption to Evade Restrictions

In response to the new rules, use of VPN software—which can get around location-based restrictions by masking connections via another country—increased dramatically following 25 July.

User numbers peaked at more than 1.4 million in the middle of August, up from approximately 650,000 people prior to the verification began. Subsequently, the regulator noted that VPN usage has since decreased, with current numbers standing at approximately 900,000. It added that the level of daily VPN use remains “much lower” than user numbers for pornography services.

Young People Taking Action to Damaging Online Content

Elsewhere, the regulator's annual study revealed that about 60% of young people aged 11 to 17 had taken action after encountering harmful content online. Actions included flagging the material to the site to blocking the user who posted it.

This survey was carried out before new regulations took effect that require social media companies to stop children from seeing harmful content, such as material related to suicide and adult material. The primary way young people encountered such content was by looking through a social media timeline, indicating that algorithms were serving inappropriate material.

Government Announce Examination of Pornography Legislation

Separately, the government stated it would examine the legislation governing pornography to assess whether it is adequate in the modern digital age.

“The review will investigate the efficacy of the existing law in relation to making illegal, among other things, damaging portrayals of familial abuse and any forms of pornography which promote the abuse of children,” said a government official.

Campaigners Call For Tighter Online Regulations

Advocates for tighter regulation of online pornography have called on the authorities to ban so-called “barely legal” material. This encompasses content featuring incest scenes or that encourages abuse by casting young-looking adults portraying children.

Proposed changes to government bills seek to:

• Ban pornography where adults are mimicking children, often filmed in environments like children’s bedrooms.
• Extend the offence of making an indecent image of a child to include material where an adult acts the part of a child.
• Introduce tighter controls on familial abuse pornography, which studies suggests is often promoted by site algorithms.
• Introduce additional restrictions on “nudification” technology, potentially making it an illegal act to possess tools designed to generate private images without permission.
• Establish a new, separate regulatory body to perform spot checks on pornography sites and respond to complaints of illegal content.

The advocates contend that these measures would ensure the safeguards that have been enforced for years offline finally are extended to the digital age.