British Adult Content Traffic Falls After Identity Verifications, But VPN Usage Surges, States Watchdog

Visitor numbers to pornography platforms in the United Kingdom has seen a notable drop since the roll-out of mandatory age verification this summer, according to the country's communications regulator. Concurrently, the usage of specialist software designed to circumvent these barriers has increased.

Sharp Drop in Visitor Numbers After Rule Enforcement

The enforcement of age verification on 25 July led to an swift fall in visits to popular online adult platforms, such as the top provider in the UK. Data reveals that visitor numbers to this platform in August were 9.8 million, a decline of 1.5 million from the equivalent month in 2024.

In total, traffic to the 10 top adult services in the UK have now settled at a markedly decreased volume than before the end-of-July implementation date. Subsequent data indicates this decline in viewing persisted past August.

Sharp Increase in VPN Adoption to Evade Restrictions

In response to the new rules, adoption of VPN software—which can circumvent geographic blocks by masking connections through another nation—surged after 25 July.

Usage peaked at over 1.4 million in mid-August, rising from around 650,000 people before the checks began. However, the watchdog stated that VPN usage has since decreased, with current numbers standing at approximately 900,000. It clarified that the volume of daily VPN use is “much lower” than user numbers for pornography services.

Young People Responding to Harmful Material

Elsewhere, the regulator's annual study revealed that about 60% of young people aged 11 to 17 had acted after seeing distressing content on the internet. Actions included reporting the material to the site to muting the user who posted it.

This survey was conducted before new regulations took effect that compel platforms to stop children from seeing harmful content, including material related to suicide and adult material. The most common way teenagers came across such content was by scrolling through a platform feed, suggesting that recommendation systems were serving inappropriate material.

Government Announce Examination of Adult Content Laws

Separately, the ministers stated it would examine the legislation governing pornography to assess whether it is adequate in the ever-developing digital age.

“The examination will investigate the effectiveness of the existing law in relation to criminalising, among other things, damaging portrayals of incest and any forms of pornography which promote the abuse of children,” said a justice minister.

Campaigners Call For Stricter Digital Regulations

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

Suggested amendments to legislation seek to:

• Ban pornography where performers are impersonating children, often filmed in settings like children’s bedrooms.
• Broaden the crime of creating an exploitative portrayal of a child to include material where an older performer acts the part of a child.
• Apply stricter regulation on incest-themed pornography, which studies indicates is often promoted by site algorithms.
• Introduce further restrictions on “nudification” software, potentially making it an offence to possess tools designed to create private images without permission.
• Create a new, separate oversight agency to perform inspections on pornography sites and respond to complaints of unlawful content.

The advocates argue that these steps would ensure the protections that have existed for decades offline finally are extended to the digital age.