British Adult Content Traffic Falls After Age Checks, Yet Virtual Private Network Usage Spikes, Reports Regulator

Access to pornography platforms in the UK has seen a notable drop since the introduction of age-checking measures this summer, according to the nation's communications watchdog. Simultaneously, the adoption of specialist software designed to circumvent these barriers has increased.

Immediate Fall in User Figures After Law Implementation

The enforcement of age vetting on 25 July caused an swift decline in traffic to leading pornography sites, such as the most visited provider in the UK. Figures reveals that visitor numbers to this platform in August were 9.8 million, a decrease of 1.5 million compared to the equivalent month in 2024.

In total, traffic to the 10 most-visited adult services in the UK have now stabilized at a significantly reduced level than prior to the end-of-July implementation date. Subsequent data shows this decline in viewing continued past August.

Surge in Virtual Private Network Usage to Evade Restrictions

In response to the new rules, adoption of Virtual Private Networks (VPNs)—which can circumvent geographic blocks by masking connections via another nation—more than doubled after 25 July.

Usage peaked at over 1.4 million in mid-August, up from around 650,000 people before the checks were introduced. Subsequently, the watchdog noted that VPN usage has afterwards steadily declined, with latest figures standing at approximately 900,000. It added that the volume of daily VPN use is “much lower” than traffic for pornography services.

Young People Taking Action to Damaging Online Content

Elsewhere, the regulator's report found that about 60% of teenagers aged 11 to 17 had acted after seeing damaging content online. Steps taken included reporting the content to the site to muting the person who shared it.

This research was carried out before new regulations came into force that compel platforms to prevent children from accessing dangerous content, such as material related to self-harm and adult material. The most common way young people came across such content was by looking through a platform timeline, indicating that recommendation systems were serving inappropriate material.

Ministers Announce Examination of Pornography Legislation

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

“The examination will investigate the effectiveness of the current law in regarding criminalising, among other things, harmful depictions of incest and any forms of pornography which encourage the abuse of children,” said a government official.

Advocates Call For Stricter Online Regulations

Advocates for better regulation of adult content have urged the authorities to outlaw so-called “barely legal” material. This includes content featuring incest scenes or that encourages abuse by casting youthful performers dressed as children.

Suggested changes to legislation aim to:

• Prohibit pornography where performers are mimicking children, sometimes filmed in settings like children’s bedrooms.
• Extend the offence of making an indecent image of a child to cover material where an adult acts the part of a child.
• Apply stricter controls on familial abuse pornography, which research indicates is heavily recommended by site systems.
• Add further restrictions on “nudification” technology, potentially making it an illegal act to own software designed to generate non-consensual nude images.
• Create a new, separate regulatory body to perform spot checks on adult platforms and act on reports of unlawful content.

The campaigners contend that these measures would ensure the safeguards that have been enforced for decades offline finally apply to the digital age.