UK Pornography Site Visits Falls Following Age Checks, But VPN Usage Surges, States Regulator

Visitor numbers to pornography sites in the United Kingdom has fallen significantly after the roll-out of mandatory age verification earlier this year, as reported by the country's communications regulator. Simultaneously, the adoption of specialist software designed to bypass these restrictions has surged.

Immediate Drop in Visitor Figures Following Law Enforcement

The enforcement of age vetting on 25 July resulted in an prompt decline in visits to popular online adult platforms, including the top site in the UK. Figures indicates that user traffic to this platform in August reached 9.8 million, a drop of 1.5 million from the same period in 2024.

In total, visitor numbers to the ten most-visited pornography sites in the UK have now stabilized at a markedly decreased volume than prior to the late July implementation date. Later analysis indicates this slump in viewing continued beyond August.

Sharp Increase in VPN Usage to Evade Checks

In response to the new regulations, adoption of VPN software—which can circumvent location-based blocks by routing internet traffic through another country—increased dramatically following 25 July.

User numbers peaked at over 1.4 million in the middle of August, rising from approximately 650,000 users before the checks were introduced. Subsequently, the regulator stated that VPN usage has since decreased, with current figures at approximately 900,000. It clarified that the volume of daily VPN use is “much lower” than user numbers for adult sites.

Young People Responding to Damaging Online Content

In other findings, the regulator's annual study found that about 60% of teenagers aged 11 to 17 had taken action after encountering harmful content on the internet. Steps taken ranged from reporting the content to the platform to blocking the person who posted it.

This survey was carried out prior to new regulations took effect that compel platforms to stop children from seeing harmful content, including material related to self-harm and adult material. The most common way teenagers came across such content was by looking through a social media feed, suggesting that recommendation systems were serving inappropriate material.

Ministers Launch Examination of Pornography Legislation

Separately, the government announced it would review the legislation governing pornography to assess whether it is adequate in the modern online world.

“The review will investigate the efficacy of the existing law in regarding making illegal, among other things, damaging portrayals of familial abuse and any forms of pornography which encourage the abuse of children,” said a government official.

Advocates Push For Tighter Online Controls

Campaigners for better regulation of adult content have called on the authorities to ban so-called “barely legal” material. This encompasses content featuring simulated familial abuse or that encourages abuse by using youthful adults portraying children.

Suggested amendments to government bills aim to:

• Prohibit pornography where performers are mimicking children, often filmed in environments like children’s bedrooms.
• Broaden the crime of making an exploitative portrayal of a child to include material where an adult plays the role of a child.
• Apply stricter controls on familial abuse pornography, which research suggests is often promoted by site algorithms.
• Introduce additional restrictions on “nudification” technology, potentially making it an offence to possess tools designed to create non-consensual nude images.
• Create a new, separate regulatory body to perform spot checks on adult platforms and act on reports of unlawful content.

The advocates contend that these measures would ensure the safeguards that have been enforced for decades in the physical world finally are extended to the digital age.