British Pornography Traffic Declines Following Age Checks, Yet Virtual Private Network Use Spikes, States Watchdog

Access to adult content websites in the UK has fallen significantly since the enforcement of age-checking measures this summer, according to the nation's communications watchdog. At the same time, the adoption of specialist software designed to bypass these blocks has surged.

Immediate Fall in Visitor Figures After Rule Enforcement

The enforcement of age vetting on 25 July led to an immediate decline in visits to major online adult platforms, such as the top site in the UK. Data shows that user traffic to this platform in August stood at 9.8 million, a drop of 1.5 million from the equivalent month in 2024.

In total, visitor numbers to the ten top pornography sites in the UK have now stabilized at a “lower level” than prior to the late July deadline. Subsequent analysis suggests this downward trend in viewing continued past August.

Sharp Increase in VPN Adoption to Bypass Checks

Reacting to the new rules, adoption of Virtual Private Networks (VPNs)—which can get around geographic blocks by masking connections via another nation—increased dramatically following 25 July.

User numbers reached a high at over 1.4 million in the middle of August, rising from around 650,000 people before the verification began. However, the regulator noted that VPN usage has since steadily declined, with latest figures at around 900,000. It added that the level of regular VPN use is “much lower” than user numbers for pornography sites.

Young People Taking Action to Harmful Material

Elsewhere, the watchdog's annual study found that about 60% of teenagers aged 11 to 17 had taken action after seeing distressing content online. Steps taken included reporting the material to the platform to blocking the user who posted it.

This research was carried out before new rules came into force that compel social media companies to stop children from seeing harmful content, such as material related to suicide and pornography. The most common way young people encountered such content was by scrolling through a social media feed, suggesting that algorithms were serving harmful material.

Ministers Announce Review of Pornography Legislation

Separately, the government stated it would review the legislation relating to pornography to consider whether it is effective in the modern digital age.

“The review will investigate the effectiveness of the current law in relation to making illegal, among other things, damaging portrayals of incest and any types of pornography which encourage the abuse of children,” said a government official.

Campaigners Push For Tighter Online Controls

Campaigners for tighter regulation of online pornography have called on the authorities to ban so-called “barely legal” material. This encompasses content featuring incest scenes or that appears to promote abuse by using youthful adults portraying children.

Suggested changes to legislation aim to:

• Ban pornography where performers are mimicking children, often recorded in environments like children’s bedrooms.
• Broaden the offence of creating an indecent image of a child to include material where an adult plays the role of a child.
• Introduce stricter regulation on familial abuse pornography, which research indicates is heavily recommended by platform algorithms.
• Add further controls on “nudification” technology, potentially making it an illegal act to possess software designed to create non-consensual nude images.
• Establish a new, independent oversight agency to conduct inspections on adult platforms and act on reports of illegal content.

The advocates argue that these measures would ensure the safeguards that have existed for years in the physical world finally apply to the online sphere.