UK Adult Content Site Visits Declines Following Identity Checks, But VPN Use Surges, States Watchdog

Visitor numbers to pornography websites in the United Kingdom has fallen significantly after the introduction of mandatory age verification earlier this year, according to the country's communications watchdog. Concurrently, the use of tools designed to circumvent these restrictions has increased.

Sharp Drop in Visitor Figures After Rule Enforcement

The enforcement of age verification on 25 July caused an prompt reduction in visits to major pornography sites, such as the most visited provider in the UK. Figures shows that visitor numbers to this platform in August reached 9.8 million, a drop of 1.5 million compared to the equivalent month in 2024.

Overall, visitor numbers to the 10 top adult services in the UK have now settled at a significantly reduced level than prior to the end-of-July implementation date. Subsequent data shows this downward trend in viewing continued beyond August.

Sharp Increase in VPN Usage to Evade Restrictions

Reacting to the new rules, adoption of VPN software—which can bypass geographic blocks by masking internet traffic via another nation—more than doubled following 25 July.

Usage peaked at over 1.4 million in mid-August, up from approximately 650,000 users prior to the checks began. However, the regulator stated that VPN usage has afterwards steadily declined, with current figures standing at around 900,000. It added that the volume of daily VPN use is “much lower” than traffic for adult services.

Teenagers Responding to Harmful Online Content

In other findings, the watchdog's report found that about 60% of young people aged 11 to 17 had taken action after encountering distressing content on the internet. Actions included flagging the content to the site to muting the person who shared it.

This research was carried out prior to new rules took effect that require platforms to prevent children from seeing dangerous content, including material related to suicide and pornography. The most common way teenagers encountered such content was by scrolling through a platform feed, indicating that recommendation systems were serving inappropriate material.

Government Launch Review of Adult Content Legislation

In a related development, the government stated it would review the legislation relating to pornography to consider whether it is “fit for purpose” in the ever-developing digital age.

“The review will look into the effectiveness of the current law in regarding criminalising, for example, damaging depictions of incest and any types of pornography which promote child sexual abuse,” said a government official.

Advocates Call For Tighter Online Controls

Advocates for tighter control of adult content have called on 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 using young-looking adults portraying children.

Suggested amendments to government bills aim to:

• Prohibit pornography where adults are impersonating children, sometimes recorded in settings like children’s bedrooms.
• Extend the crime of making an indecent image of a child to cover material where an adult plays the role of a child.
• Apply tighter regulation on incest-themed pornography, which studies suggests is often promoted by platform systems.
• Introduce further controls on “nudification” software, potentially making it an illegal act to possess software designed to create private images without permission.
• Establish a new, separate regulatory body to conduct spot checks on pornography sites and act on reports of illegal content.

The campaigners contend that these steps would ensure the protections that have been enforced for decades in the physical world finally apply to the digital age.