UK Adult Content Traffic Falls After Age Checks, Yet VPN Usage Spikes, Reports Watchdog

Access to pornography platforms in the UK has decreased markedly since the roll-out of age-checking measures this summer, as reported by the country's communications authority. At the same time, the adoption of specialist software designed to dodge these barriers has risen.

Immediate Fall in Visitor Numbers After Rule Enforcement

The introduction of age vetting on 25 July led to an prompt reduction in traffic to leading online adult platforms, including the top site in the UK. Data shows that visitor numbers to this site in August stood at 9.8 million, a decrease of 1.5 million from the same period in 2024.

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

Sharp Increase in Virtual Private Network Adoption to Bypass Restrictions

In response to the new rules, use of Virtual Private Networks (VPNs)—which can bypass geographic restrictions by routing connections via another nation—surged after 25 July.

Usage reached a high at more than 1.4 million in the middle of August, rising from around 650,000 users before the verification were introduced. However, the regulator noted that VPN usage has since fallen back, with latest figures at around 900,000. It added that the level of daily VPN use is “much lower” than traffic for adult services.

Teenagers Responding to Harmful Material

In other findings, the watchdog's report revealed that about 60% of young people aged 11 to 17 had acted after seeing harmful content online. Actions ranged from flagging the content to the platform to muting the person who posted it.

This survey was conducted before new regulations took effect that require platforms to stop children from seeing dangerous 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 social media timeline, suggesting that algorithms were serving harmful material.

Ministers Launch Review of Adult Content Laws

Separately, the government stated it would examine the legislation relating to pornography to consider whether it is effective in the ever-developing online world.

“The examination will look into the efficacy of the existing law in regarding making illegal, among other things, damaging depictions of incest and any forms of pornography which promote child sexual abuse,” stated a justice minister.

Campaigners Push For Tighter Online Controls

Advocates for better regulation of online pornography have urged the authorities to ban so-called “barely legal” material. This encompasses content featuring simulated familial abuse or that encourages abuse by using young-looking performers portraying children.

Proposed changes to government bills aim to:

• Prohibit pornography where performers are mimicking children, sometimes filmed in settings like children’s bedrooms.
• Broaden the crime of making an exploitative portrayal of a child to cover material where an older performer acts the part of a child.
• Apply stricter regulation on familial abuse pornography, which studies suggests is heavily recommended by platform systems.
• Add additional controls on “nudification” technology, potentially making it an illegal act to possess tools designed to create non-consensual nude images.
• Create a new, independent oversight agency to perform inspections on pornography sites and act on reports of unlawful content.

The advocates contend that these measures would ensure the safeguards that have been enforced for decades offline finally apply to the online sphere.