UK Adult Content Traffic Declines After Age Checks, Yet Virtual Private Network Usage Spikes, Reports Watchdog

Traffic to pornography platforms in the United Kingdom has decreased markedly after the enforcement of age-checking measures earlier this year, as reported by the country's communications regulator. At the same time, the adoption of specialist software designed to circumvent these barriers has increased.

Immediate Fall in User Figures Following Law Implementation

The introduction of age vetting on 25 July resulted in an swift decline in visits to leading online adult platforms, such as the most visited provider in the UK. Data indicates that visitor numbers to this site in August were 9.8 million, a decrease of 1.5 million from the same period in 2024.

In total, traffic to the 10 most-visited adult services in the UK have now settled at a significantly reduced level than before the end-of-July implementation date. Subsequent data shows this slump in site visits persisted beyond August.

Surge in VPN Adoption to Bypass Restrictions

Reacting to the new regulations, adoption of VPN software—which can get around geographic blocks by routing connections via another nation—more than doubled after 25 July.

Usage reached a high at over 1.4 million in the middle of August, rising from around 650,000 users prior to the verification began. However, the watchdog noted that VPN usage has since fallen back, with current figures standing at around 900,000. It clarified that the level of regular VPN use remains “much lower” than traffic for adult sites.

Young People Taking Action to Damaging Online Content

In other findings, the watchdog's annual study revealed that about 60% of teenagers aged 11 to 17 had taken action after encountering harmful content online. Steps taken ranged from reporting the content to the platform 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, including material related to self-harm and adult material. The primary way young people came across such content was by scrolling through a social media feed, indicating that algorithms were serving harmful material.

Ministers Announce Examination of Pornography Legislation

Separately, the government stated it would review the legislation relating to pornography to consider whether it is effective in the ever-developing digital age.

“The examination will look into the effectiveness of the current law in relation to criminalising, for example, damaging depictions of incest and any types of pornography which promote child sexual abuse,” said a government official.

Campaigners Call For Stricter Digital Regulations

Advocates for better control of adult content have urged the authorities to ban so-called “barely legal” material. This includes content featuring incest scenes or that appears to promote child sexual abuse by casting young-looking performers dressed as children.

Proposed amendments to government bills seek to:

• Prohibit pornography where adults are impersonating children, often filmed in environments like children’s bedrooms.
• Extend the crime of creating an exploitative portrayal of a child to cover material where an older performer plays the role of a child.
• Introduce tighter controls on incest-themed pornography, which studies indicates is often promoted by site algorithms.
• Introduce further controls on “nudification” software, potentially making it an offence to possess tools designed to generate non-consensual nude images.
• Create a new, independent regulatory body to perform inspections on pornography sites and act on reports of illegal content.

The campaigners argue that these measures would ensure the safeguards that have been enforced for decades offline finally are extended to the online sphere.