British Adult Content Site Visits Declines After Identity Checks, Yet VPN Usage Spikes, States Watchdog

Access to pornography websites in the United Kingdom has fallen significantly after the enforcement of age-checking measures earlier this year, according to the country's communications regulator. Concurrently, the adoption of tools designed to bypass these barriers has surged.

Immediate Drop in Visitor Figures Following Rule Implementation

The enforcement of age verification on 25 July caused an swift decline in visits to major online adult platforms, such as the leading provider in the UK. Figures indicates that visitor numbers to this platform in August reached 9.8 million, a decrease of 1.5 million from the same period in 2024.

Overall, traffic to the ten most-visited pornography sites in the UK have now stabilized at a significantly reduced level than before the end-of-July implementation date. Later data shows this decline in viewing persisted past August.

Sharp Increase in VPN Adoption to Bypass Checks

In response to the new regulations, use of VPN software—which can bypass location-based restrictions by masking connections through another nation—more than doubled after 25 July.

Usage peaked at over 1.4 million in mid-August, up from around 650,000 people prior to the verification began. However, the regulator noted that VPN usage has since steadily declined, with current figures standing at approximately 900,000. It clarified that the level of regular VPN use is “much lower” than user numbers for adult sites.

Young People Responding to Damaging Online Content

Elsewhere, the watchdog's annual study found that about 60% of young people aged 11 to 17 had taken action after seeing harmful content online. Steps taken ranged from reporting the material to the site to muting the user who shared it.

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

Government Launch Review of Pornography Legislation

Separately, the ministers stated it would review the legislation relating to pornography to consider whether it is adequate in the modern digital age.

“The review will investigate the effectiveness of the current law in relation to making illegal, among other things, damaging portrayals of incest and any forms of pornography which encourage the abuse of children,” said a justice minister.

Campaigners Call For Stricter Online Controls

Campaigners for tighter regulation of adult content have urged the government to ban so-called “barely legal” material. This includes content featuring simulated familial abuse or that appears to promote child sexual abuse by using young-looking performers portraying children.

Suggested changes to legislation seek to:

• Prohibit pornography where adults are impersonating children, often filmed in settings like children’s bedrooms.
• Extend the offence of creating an exploitative portrayal of a child to cover material where an older performer acts the part of a child.
• Apply tighter regulation on familial abuse pornography, which research indicates is heavily recommended by site algorithms.
• Introduce further restrictions on “nudification” technology, potentially making it an illegal act to possess software designed to generate private images without permission.
• Create a new, independent oversight agency to conduct spot checks on pornography sites and respond to reports of unlawful content.

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