UK Pornography Traffic Falls After Identity Verifications, But Virtual Private Network Use Surges, States Regulator

Traffic to adult content platforms in the UK has decreased markedly after the introduction of mandatory age verification earlier this year, according to the country's communications regulator. Simultaneously, the adoption of tools designed to circumvent these blocks has surged.

Sharp Fall in User Figures After Rule Implementation

The enforcement of age vetting on 25 July resulted in an swift reduction in visits to leading online adult platforms, such as the leading site in the UK. Figures shows that user traffic to this site in August were 9.8 million, a decrease of 1.5 million compared to the equivalent month in 2024.

In total, traffic to the ten top adult services in the UK have now stabilized at a significantly reduced level than prior to the end-of-July deadline. Subsequent analysis suggests this downward trend in site visits persisted past August.

Surge in Virtual Private Network Usage to Bypass Checks

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

Usage reached a high at more than 1.4 million in mid-August, rising from approximately 650,000 users before the checks were introduced. However, the regulator stated that VPN usage has afterwards steadily declined, with current numbers standing at around 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

In other findings, the watchdog's annual study found that about 60% of teenagers aged 11 to 17 had acted after encountering damaging content online. Steps taken ranged from reporting the content to the platform to blocking the person who shared it.

This research was carried out before new rules took effect that compel platforms to stop children from seeing dangerous content, such as material related to suicide and pornography. The most common way teenagers encountered such content was by looking through a social media timeline, suggesting that recommendation systems were showing harmful material.

Ministers Launch Review of Pornography Legislation

Separately, the government announced it would review the criminal law governing pornography to consider whether it is adequate in the ever-developing online world.

“The review will look into the efficacy of the existing law in regarding criminalising, among other things, harmful portrayals of familial abuse and any forms of pornography which promote the abuse of children,” said a government official.

Campaigners Call For Stricter Digital Controls

Advocates for tighter control of online pornography have called on the authorities to outlaw so-called “barely legal” material. This includes content featuring incest scenes or that appears to promote child sexual abuse by using young-looking performers dressed as children.

Suggested amendments to legislation aim to:

• Prohibit pornography where adults are impersonating children, sometimes filmed in environments like children’s bedrooms.
• Broaden the offence of making an indecent image of a child to cover material where an older performer plays the role of a child.
• Apply stricter controls on familial abuse pornography, which studies indicates is heavily recommended by site systems.
• Introduce further controls on “nudification” software, potentially making it an illegal act to possess software designed to generate private images without permission.
• Create a new, independent oversight agency to perform spot checks on adult platforms and respond to complaints of illegal content.

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