British Pornography Traffic Declines Following Age Verifications, Yet Virtual Private Network Use Spikes, Reports Regulator

Traffic to adult content platforms in the United Kingdom has decreased markedly since the introduction of mandatory age verification this summer, according to the nation's communications regulator. At the same time, the usage of tools designed to circumvent these blocks has risen.

Immediate Drop in User Figures Following Rule Implementation

The enforcement of age vetting on 25 July led to an immediate decline in traffic to popular online adult platforms, including the top provider in the UK. Figures indicates that user traffic to this platform in August stood at 9.8 million, a drop of 1.5 million compared to the same period in 2024.

Overall, visitor numbers to the 10 most-visited adult services in the UK have now stabilized at a “lower level” than before the late July deadline. Subsequent data shows this slump in site visits persisted past August.

Surge in VPN Adoption to Bypass Checks

In response to the new rules, adoption of VPN software—which can bypass location-based restrictions by masking connections through another nation—increased dramatically after 25 July.

User numbers reached a high at more than 1.4 million in mid-August, up from approximately 650,000 people prior to the checks began. However, the regulator noted that VPN usage has afterwards decreased, with latest figures at around 900,000. It added that the level of regular VPN use is “much lower” than user numbers for adult sites.

Teenagers Taking Action to Damaging Material

In other findings, the regulator's report revealed that about 60% of teenagers aged 11 to 17 had acted after encountering harmful content online. Actions included flagging the material to the platform to muting the user who posted it.

This survey was carried out prior to new rules took effect that require platforms to prevent children from seeing dangerous content, such as material related to self-harm and pornography. The most common way young people came across such content was by scrolling through a platform timeline, indicating that recommendation systems were showing harmful material.

Ministers Announce Examination of Pornography Legislation

Separately, the ministers announced it would review the legislation relating to pornography to consider whether it is effective in the modern online world.

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

Campaigners Call For Tighter Online Regulations

Campaigners for better control of adult content have urged the authorities to ban so-called “barely legal” material. This encompasses content featuring incest scenes or that encourages abuse by casting youthful performers portraying children.

Proposed changes to government bills aim to:

• Prohibit pornography where adults are mimicking children, often recorded in environments like children’s bedrooms.
• Broaden the offence of making an indecent image of a child to include material where an adult plays the role of a child.
• Apply stricter controls on incest-themed pornography, which research suggests is heavily recommended by platform systems.
• Introduce further controls on “nudification” technology, potentially making it an illegal act to own tools designed to generate private images without permission.
• Create a new, separate regulatory body to conduct spot checks on pornography sites and respond to reports of unlawful content.

The advocates argue that these measures would ensure the protections that have been enforced for years offline finally apply to the online sphere.