British Adult Content Site Visits Declines Following Identity Verifications, Yet VPN Use Spikes, Reports Regulator
Visitor numbers to adult content sites in the UK has seen a notable drop since the roll-out of mandatory age verification this summer, according to the nation's communications authority. At the same time, the adoption of tools designed to circumvent these barriers has increased.
Sharp Drop in Visitor Figures Following Rule Implementation
The enforcement of age vetting on 25 July caused an prompt reduction in traffic to popular online adult platforms, such as the most visited site in the UK. Data shows that user traffic to this platform in August stood at 9.8 million, a decrease of 1.5 million from the same period in 2024.
Overall, traffic to the 10 most-visited adult services in the UK have now stabilized at a significantly reduced level than before the end-of-July deadline. Later data suggests this slump in viewing continued past August.
Sharp Increase in VPN Usage to Bypass Checks
In response to the new rules, adoption of Virtual Private Networks (VPNs)—which can circumvent geographic restrictions by masking connections via another country—more than doubled following 25 July.
Usage peaked at over 1.4 million in mid-August, up from around 650,000 people prior to the verification began. However, the regulator noted that VPN usage has since fallen back, with current figures standing at approximately 900,000. It added that the level of daily VPN use is “much lower” than user numbers for pornography services.
Young People Taking Action to Damaging Online Content
Elsewhere, the watchdog's annual study found that about 60% of young people aged 11 to 17 had taken action after encountering distressing content online. Actions included flagging the material to the site to muting the person who shared it.
This survey was carried out prior to new regulations came into force that require platforms to stop children from seeing dangerous content, such as material related to self-harm and adult material. The primary way teenagers encountered such content was by looking through a social media feed, indicating that recommendation systems were serving harmful material.
Government Announce Examination of Pornography Laws
Separately, the government stated it would review the criminal law relating to pornography to assess whether it is effective in the ever-developing online world.
“The examination will look into the efficacy of the existing law in regarding criminalising, for example, damaging portrayals of incest and any types of pornography which encourage child sexual abuse,” stated a justice minister.
Advocates Call For Stricter Digital Controls
Advocates for better control of online pornography have urged the authorities to ban so-called “barely legal” material. This includes content featuring simulated familial abuse or that appears to promote child sexual abuse by casting youthful performers portraying children.
Suggested changes to legislation aim to:
- Ban pornography where adults are mimicking children, sometimes filmed in environments like children’s bedrooms.
- Broaden the crime of making an exploitative portrayal of a child to cover material where an adult acts the part of a child.
- Apply tighter controls on incest-themed pornography, which studies suggests is heavily recommended by platform algorithms.
- Introduce further restrictions on “nudification” software, potentially making it an illegal act to own software designed to create non-consensual nude images.
- Establish a new, independent oversight agency to conduct spot checks on adult platforms and respond to reports of illegal content.
The campaigners argue that these measures would ensure the protections that have been enforced for decades in the physical world finally are extended to the online sphere.
