British Adult Content Site Visits Declines After Age Checks, Yet VPN Use Spikes, Reports Regulator

Visitor numbers to pornography websites in the United Kingdom has fallen significantly since the roll-out of age-checking measures earlier this year, as reported by the country's communications regulator. Simultaneously, the use of tools designed to bypass these barriers has increased.

Immediate Drop in User Numbers Following Law Implementation

The enforcement of age vetting on 25 July caused an swift reduction in traffic to popular online adult platforms, such as the leading site in the UK. Data indicates that visitor numbers to this platform in August stood at 9.8 million, a decline of 1.5 million from the same period in 2024.

Overall, visitor numbers to the 10 top pornography sites in the UK have now stabilized at a significantly reduced level than before the end-of-July deadline. Later data indicates this decline in site visits continued beyond August.

Sharp Increase in VPN Usage to Evade Checks

In response to the new rules, adoption of Virtual Private Networks (VPNs)—which can get around geographic blocks by masking internet traffic via another country—increased dramatically after 25 July.

Usage reached a high at more than 1.4 million in mid-August, up from around 650,000 people prior to the checks were introduced. However, the watchdog stated that VPN usage has afterwards steadily declined, with current figures standing at approximately 900,000. It clarified that the level of daily VPN use remains “much lower” than traffic for adult sites.

Young People Taking Action to Harmful Material

In other findings, the regulator's report revealed that about 60% of young people aged 11 to 17 had taken action after encountering damaging content online. Steps taken included reporting the material to the platform to muting the user who posted it.

This research was carried out prior to new rules came into force that require platforms to prevent children from seeing harmful content, including material related to self-harm and pornography. The primary way teenagers encountered such content was by looking through a social media feed, suggesting that recommendation systems were showing inappropriate material.

Ministers Launch Examination of Pornography Laws

In a related development, the ministers stated it would review the legislation relating to pornography to assess whether it is adequate in the ever-developing online world.

“The examination will investigate the efficacy of the existing law in regarding making illegal, among other things, damaging portrayals of incest and any types of pornography which encourage the abuse of children,” stated 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 simulated familial abuse or that appears to promote abuse by using young-looking performers portraying children.

Proposed changes to government bills aim to:

• Prohibit pornography where adults are mimicking children, sometimes filmed in environments like children’s bedrooms.
• Broaden the offence of creating an exploitative portrayal of a child to cover material where an older performer acts the part of a child.
• Introduce tighter controls on incest-themed pornography, which research indicates is often promoted by platform algorithms.
• Introduce further controls on “nudification” technology, potentially making it an illegal act to possess software designed to create private images without permission.
• Establish a new, separate regulatory body to perform spot checks on pornography sites and respond to reports of illegal content.

The campaigners argue that these steps would ensure the safeguards that have existed for years offline finally are extended to the online sphere.