British Adult Content Site Visits Falls After Age Verifications, But VPN Use Spikes, States Watchdog

Access to pornography websites in the UK has decreased markedly since the introduction of mandatory age verification earlier this year, as reported by the country's communications authority. Simultaneously, the adoption of specialist software designed to bypass these barriers has increased.

Sharp Drop in User Figures After Rule Implementation

The enforcement of age vetting on 25 July resulted in an swift reduction in visits to leading pornography sites, including the top site in the UK. Figures shows that visitor numbers to this platform in August were 9.8 million, a decrease of 1.5 million compared to the equivalent month in 2024.

Overall, visitor numbers to the 10 most-visited pornography sites in the UK have now settled at a “lower level” than before the end-of-July implementation date. Later data indicates this downward trend in site visits persisted past August.

Sharp Increase in VPN Usage to Evade Restrictions

Reacting to the new rules, use of Virtual Private Networks (VPNs)—which can circumvent location-based blocks by routing internet traffic through another country—surged after 25 July.

Usage peaked at over 1.4 million in mid-August, rising from around 650,000 people before the checks were introduced. However, the regulator noted that VPN usage has afterwards steadily declined, with current numbers at around 900,000. It added that the level of regular VPN use is “much lower” than user numbers for adult sites.

Young People Responding to Harmful Material

In other findings, the watchdog's annual study found that about 60% of young people aged 11 to 17 had acted after seeing distressing content online. Actions included flagging the material to the site to blocking the user who posted it.

This survey was carried out before new regulations came into force that require platforms to prevent children from accessing harmful content, such as material related to self-harm and pornography. The primary way teenagers came across such content was by looking through a platform feed, indicating that algorithms were showing inappropriate material.

Ministers Launch Examination of Pornography Laws

Separately, the ministers stated it would review the criminal law relating to pornography to consider whether it is effective in the ever-developing online world.

“The review will look into the effectiveness of the current law in regarding criminalising, for example, harmful portrayals of familial abuse and any types of pornography which encourage the abuse of children,” stated a government official.

Campaigners Push For Stricter Online Regulations

Campaigners for better control of adult content have called on the authorities to outlaw so-called “barely legal” material. This includes content featuring simulated familial abuse or that appears to promote child sexual abuse by using youthful performers dressed as children.

Proposed amendments to government bills seek to:

• Prohibit pornography where performers are impersonating children, sometimes recorded in environments like children’s bedrooms.
• Extend the offence 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 research indicates is heavily recommended by site algorithms.
• Introduce additional controls on “nudification” software, potentially making it an offence to possess software designed to create private images without permission.
• Create a new, separate regulatory body to perform inspections on pornography sites and respond to reports of unlawful content.

The advocates contend that these steps would ensure the protections that have been enforced for decades offline finally apply to the online sphere.