British Pornography Site Visits Declines Following Identity Verifications, Yet VPN Use Surges, Reports Watchdog

Visitor numbers to adult content platforms in the UK has fallen significantly after the roll-out of mandatory age verification earlier this year, as reported by the nation's communications authority. At the same time, the use of specialist software designed to bypass these barriers has increased.

Sharp Fall in User Numbers After Law Enforcement

The introduction of age vetting on 25 July resulted in an swift decline in visits to popular pornography sites, including the leading site in the UK. Data reveals that user traffic to this site in August stood at 9.8 million, a decline of 1.5 million from the same period in 2024.

In total, traffic to the 10 most-visited adult services in the UK have now settled at a significantly reduced level than before the end-of-July implementation date. Later analysis shows this slump in viewing continued past August.

Surge in VPN Adoption to Evade Checks

Reacting to the new rules, adoption of VPN software—which can bypass geographic restrictions by masking connections through another country—surged following 25 July.

Usage reached a high at more than 1.4 million in the middle of August, rising from approximately 650,000 users before the verification began. However, the watchdog stated that VPN usage has since steadily declined, with current figures at approximately 900,000. It clarified that the volume of regular VPN use is “much lower” than user numbers for pornography sites.

Teenagers Responding to Harmful Online Content

Elsewhere, the regulator's report revealed that about 60% of teenagers aged 11 to 17 had taken action after seeing distressing content online. Steps taken included flagging the material to the platform to muting the user who shared it.

This survey was conducted before new rules came into force that compel platforms to stop children from seeing harmful content, such as material related to suicide and adult material. The most common way teenagers encountered such content was by scrolling through a platform feed, suggesting that algorithms were serving harmful material.

Ministers Launch Examination of Adult Content Laws

Separately, the ministers stated it would review the criminal law relating to pornography to assess 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, harmful depictions of familial abuse and any types of pornography which promote child sexual abuse,” said a government official.

Advocates Call For Stricter Online Controls

Campaigners for tighter regulation of adult content have urged the government 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 seek to:

• Ban pornography where adults are impersonating children, often filmed in settings like children’s bedrooms.
• Extend the crime of creating an exploitative portrayal of a child to cover material where an older performer acts the part of a child.
• Apply tighter controls on familial abuse pornography, which studies indicates is heavily recommended by site systems.
• Add additional restrictions on “nudification” technology, potentially making it an offence to possess tools designed to create non-consensual nude images.
• Create a new, independent regulatory body to conduct inspections on pornography sites and act on reports of unlawful content.

The campaigners contend that these measures would ensure the safeguards that have been enforced for decades in the physical world finally are extended to the online sphere.