UK Pornography Traffic Falls After Age Checks, Yet Virtual Private Network Use Spikes, Reports Regulator

Traffic to adult content sites in the UK has seen a notable drop since the roll-out of age-checking measures this summer, according to the nation's communications watchdog. At the same time, the adoption of tools designed to bypass these barriers has surged.

Immediate Fall in Visitor Figures After Law Implementation

The introduction of age vetting on 25 July led to an immediate fall in visits to major online adult platforms, including the top site in the UK. Data shows that visitor numbers to this site in August reached 9.8 million, a drop of 1.5 million compared to the equivalent month in 2024.

In total, visitor numbers to the ten top adult services in the UK have now settled at a significantly reduced level than prior to the late July implementation date. Later analysis suggests this decline in site visits continued past August.

Sharp Increase in VPN Usage to Bypass Restrictions

Reacting to the new rules, adoption of Virtual Private Networks (VPNs)—which can circumvent geographic blocks by routing connections via another country—more than doubled after 25 July.

Usage peaked at more than 1.4 million in the middle of August, rising from around 650,000 people before the verification began. However, the watchdog stated that VPN usage has afterwards decreased, with current figures at approximately 900,000. It clarified that the volume of regular VPN use remains “much lower” than traffic for adult sites.

Teenagers Taking Action to Harmful Online Content

Elsewhere, the regulator's annual study found that about 60% of young people aged 11 to 17 had acted after seeing distressing content on the internet. Steps taken ranged from flagging the content to the platform to muting the user who posted it.

This research was conducted before new regulations took effect that compel social media companies to stop children from accessing dangerous content, including material related to self-harm and adult material. The primary way teenagers came across such content was by scrolling through a social media timeline, indicating that recommendation systems were showing harmful material.

Ministers Announce Review of Adult Content Laws

Separately, the ministers announced it would review the criminal law governing pornography to consider whether it is effective in the modern digital age.

“The review will investigate the efficacy of the current law in regarding making illegal, for example, damaging depictions of incest and any forms of pornography which promote child sexual abuse,” stated a justice minister.

Advocates Call For Tighter Digital Controls

Advocates for tighter regulation of online pornography have urged the authorities to outlaw so-called “barely legal” material. This encompasses content featuring simulated familial abuse or that encourages child sexual abuse by casting youthful performers portraying children.

Proposed changes to government bills seek to:

• Prohibit pornography where adults are mimicking children, often filmed in settings like children’s bedrooms.
• Extend the crime of making an exploitative portrayal of a child to include material where an older performer acts the part of a child.
• Introduce stricter regulation on incest-themed pornography, which research indicates is heavily recommended by platform systems.
• Introduce further restrictions on “nudification” technology, potentially making it an offence to own software designed to generate non-consensual nude images.
• Establish a new, separate regulatory body to conduct inspections on adult platforms and respond to complaints of unlawful content.

The advocates argue that these steps would ensure the safeguards that have been enforced for years offline finally apply to the digital age.