UK Adult Content Traffic Declines After Age Verifications, But VPN Usage Surges, Reports Watchdog

Traffic to adult content platforms in the United Kingdom has seen a notable drop since the introduction of mandatory age verification earlier this year, according to the nation's communications authority. Concurrently, the usage of tools designed to bypass these blocks has surged.

Immediate Drop in Visitor Numbers Following Law Enforcement

The introduction of age vetting on 25 July resulted in an prompt fall in visits to leading pornography sites, such as the most visited provider in the UK. Data indicates that visitor numbers to this platform in August reached 9.8 million, a drop of 1.5 million compared to the same period in 2024.

Overall, visitor numbers to the ten most-visited adult services in the UK have now settled at a markedly decreased volume than before the late July implementation date. Later analysis indicates this slump in viewing persisted beyond August.

Surge in Virtual Private Network Usage to Evade Restrictions

Reacting to the new rules, adoption of Virtual Private Networks (VPNs)—which can get around geographic restrictions by routing internet traffic through another nation—surged after 25 July.

Usage peaked at more than 1.4 million in the middle of August, up from approximately 650,000 people prior to the verification began. Subsequently, the watchdog stated that VPN usage has afterwards steadily declined, with latest numbers standing at around 900,000. It clarified that the volume of regular VPN use is “much lower” than traffic for adult sites.

Teenagers Taking Action to Harmful Online Content

Elsewhere, the watchdog's annual study found that about 60% of teenagers aged 11 to 17 had taken action after encountering distressing content on the internet. Steps taken included reporting the material to the platform to muting the person who shared it.

This survey was conducted before new rules took effect that require platforms to stop children from accessing harmful content, including material related to suicide and adult material. The primary way young people encountered such content was by scrolling through a social media timeline, suggesting that recommendation systems were serving harmful material.

Ministers Announce Examination of Adult Content Laws

In a related development, the ministers stated it would review the legislation relating to pornography to assess whether it is effective in the modern online world.

“The examination will look into the effectiveness of the existing law in regarding criminalising, among other things, damaging portrayals of familial abuse and any types of pornography which promote child sexual abuse,” stated a government official.

Campaigners Call For Stricter Digital Regulations

Campaigners for tighter control of adult content have urged the authorities to ban so-called “barely legal” material. This encompasses content featuring incest scenes or that appears to promote abuse by using young-looking performers dressed as children.

Proposed amendments to government bills seek to:

• Ban pornography where performers are impersonating children, sometimes filmed in environments like children’s bedrooms.
• Extend the crime of making an indecent image of a child to cover material where an adult acts the part of a child.
• Apply stricter controls on familial abuse pornography, which studies indicates is heavily recommended by platform systems.
• Introduce additional controls on “nudification” technology, potentially making it an offence to possess software designed to generate private images without permission.
• Establish a new, independent regulatory body to perform inspections on pornography sites and act on reports of illegal content.

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