British Pornography Traffic Falls After Identity Checks, Yet VPN Use Surges, Reports Regulator

Traffic to pornography websites in the United Kingdom has fallen significantly after the introduction of mandatory age verification earlier this year, as reported by the country's communications watchdog. At the same time, the usage of tools designed to bypass these blocks has surged.

Immediate Fall in Visitor Numbers After Rule Enforcement

The introduction of age verification on 25 July caused an swift fall in traffic to popular online adult platforms, such as the top site in the UK. Figures shows that user traffic to this platform in August stood at 9.8 million, a decline of 1.5 million compared to the equivalent month in 2024.

Overall, traffic to the 10 most-visited pornography sites in the UK have now settled at a significantly reduced level than prior to the end-of-July implementation date. Later analysis indicates this downward trend in viewing persisted past August.

Surge in Virtual Private Network Adoption to Evade Restrictions

Reacting to the new regulations, use of Virtual Private Networks (VPNs)—which can get around location-based restrictions by masking connections via another nation—more than doubled following 25 July.

User numbers reached a high at more than 1.4 million in mid-August, up from approximately 650,000 users before the verification were introduced. Subsequently, the watchdog noted that VPN usage has afterwards fallen back, with latest numbers at approximately 900,000. It clarified that the level of daily VPN use is “much lower” than traffic for pornography services.

Young People Taking Action to Harmful Material

Elsewhere, the watchdog's annual study found that about 60% of teenagers aged 11 to 17 had acted after seeing distressing content on the internet. Actions included reporting the material to the site to muting the person who posted it.

This survey was conducted prior to new rules came into force that compel platforms to prevent children from accessing dangerous content, including material related to suicide and pornography. The most common way teenagers encountered such content was by scrolling through a platform feed, suggesting that recommendation systems were showing inappropriate material.

Government Announce Review of Adult Content Laws

Separately, the government announced it would review the criminal law governing pornography to consider whether it is effective in the ever-developing digital age.

“The review will look into the effectiveness of the current law in regarding making illegal, among other things, damaging portrayals of incest and any types of pornography which promote child sexual abuse,” said a government official.

Advocates Push For Tighter Digital Controls

Advocates for tighter regulation of online pornography have called on the government to ban so-called “barely legal” material. This includes content featuring incest scenes or that appears to promote child sexual abuse by using youthful performers dressed as children.

Suggested changes to government bills seek to:

• Prohibit pornography where performers are impersonating children, often filmed in settings like children’s bedrooms.
• Extend the crime of making an exploitative portrayal of a child to cover material where an older performer plays the role of a child.
• Apply stricter regulation on familial abuse pornography, which studies indicates is heavily recommended by platform systems.
• Introduce additional controls on “nudification” software, potentially making it an illegal act to possess tools designed to create private images without permission.
• Create a new, independent regulatory body to perform inspections on pornography sites and respond to complaints of illegal content.

The campaigners contend that these steps would ensure the safeguards that have existed for years in the physical world finally are extended to the online sphere.