British Adult Content Traffic Declines After Identity Checks, Yet VPN Use Spikes, States Watchdog

Traffic to adult content platforms in the UK has fallen significantly after the enforcement of mandatory age verification earlier this year, according to the country's communications regulator. Simultaneously, the adoption of tools designed to dodge these blocks has surged.

Immediate Drop in User Figures After Law Implementation

The introduction of age vetting on 25 July resulted in an swift decline in visits to leading online adult platforms, such as the most visited site in the UK. Data shows that user traffic to this site in August reached 9.8 million, a decline of 1.5 million from the same period in 2024.

In total, traffic to the ten most-visited adult services in the UK have now stabilized at a markedly decreased volume than before the late July deadline. Later data shows this decline in site visits continued past August.

Surge in VPN Usage to Bypass Restrictions

In response to the new regulations, adoption of Virtual Private Networks (VPNs)—which can get around location-based blocks by masking internet traffic through another country—more than doubled following 25 July.

User numbers reached a high at over 1.4 million in the middle of August, up from around 650,000 people before the checks were introduced. Subsequently, the watchdog stated that VPN usage has afterwards fallen back, with current numbers standing at approximately 900,000. It added that the volume of daily VPN use is “much lower” than traffic for pornography sites.

Teenagers Responding to Damaging Material

In other findings, the regulator's report found that about 60% of young people aged 11 to 17 had taken action after encountering distressing content online. Actions ranged from reporting the material to the platform to blocking the person who shared it.

This survey was conducted before new rules took effect that require social media companies to stop children from accessing harmful content, such as material related to self-harm and adult material. The most common way young people came across such content was by scrolling through a platform timeline, suggesting that algorithms were showing harmful material.

Government Launch Review of Adult Content Laws

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

“The examination will look into the efficacy of the existing law in relation to making illegal, for example, harmful portrayals of incest and any types of pornography which promote the abuse of children,” said a justice minister.

Advocates Push For Tighter Digital Regulations

Campaigners for tighter regulation of online pornography have called on the government to outlaw so-called “barely legal” material. This encompasses content featuring incest scenes or that encourages child sexual abuse by using young-looking adults portraying children.

Proposed amendments to legislation seek to:

• Prohibit pornography where performers are mimicking children, often recorded in settings like children’s bedrooms.
• Extend the offence of making an indecent image of a child to cover material where an older performer plays the role of a child.
• Introduce stricter regulation on familial abuse pornography, which research indicates is heavily recommended by platform systems.
• Introduce additional controls on “nudification” technology, potentially making it an offence to own software designed to generate private images without permission.
• Create a new, independent oversight agency to perform inspections on pornography sites and respond to complaints of illegal content.

The campaigners argue that these measures would ensure the safeguards that have existed for decades in the physical world finally are extended to the online sphere.