British Adult Content Site Visits Falls Following Age Checks, Yet VPN Use Surges, Reports Watchdog

Visitor numbers to pornography sites in the United Kingdom has fallen significantly after the roll-out of age-checking measures earlier this year, as reported by the country's communications watchdog. Concurrently, the use of specialist software designed to bypass these restrictions has surged.

Sharp Drop in Visitor Numbers Following Law Enforcement

The enforcement of age vetting on 25 July resulted in an swift decline in visits to major pornography sites, including the most visited provider in the UK. Data shows that user traffic to this site in August were 9.8 million, a decline of 1.5 million compared to the same period in 2024.

In total, traffic to the 10 most-visited pornography sites in the UK have now stabilized at a “lower level” than prior to the end-of-July deadline. Later analysis suggests this decline in site visits persisted past August.

Sharp Increase in VPN Adoption to Bypass Restrictions

Reacting to the new rules, adoption of VPN software—which can circumvent geographic restrictions by routing internet traffic via another country—more than doubled following 25 July.

Usage peaked at over 1.4 million in the middle of August, up from around 650,000 people prior to the checks began. However, the regulator noted that VPN usage has afterwards steadily declined, with current numbers standing at around 900,000. It clarified that the volume of regular VPN use remains “much lower” than user numbers for adult sites.

Teenagers Responding to Damaging Material

Elsewhere, the watchdog's annual study found that about 60% of young people aged 11 to 17 had acted after encountering distressing content on the internet. Actions ranged from flagging the material to the platform to muting the user who posted it.

This survey was carried out before new rules took effect that require platforms to stop children from seeing harmful content, such as material related to self-harm and pornography. The most common way young people came across such content was by scrolling through a social media timeline, suggesting that recommendation systems were showing harmful material.

Ministers Announce Review of Adult Content Legislation

In a related development, the ministers announced it would review the criminal law governing pornography to assess whether it is effective in the modern digital age.

“The examination will look into the effectiveness of the existing law in relation to making illegal, among other things, harmful depictions of incest and any types of pornography which promote child sexual abuse,” stated a government official.

Campaigners Push For Tighter Online Controls

Advocates for tighter regulation of online pornography have called on the authorities to outlaw so-called “barely legal” material. This includes content featuring simulated familial abuse or that appears to promote abuse by casting youthful performers dressed as children.

Suggested amendments to legislation aim to:

• Ban pornography where performers are impersonating children, sometimes recorded in environments like children’s bedrooms.
• Extend the offence of creating an exploitative portrayal of a child to include material where an adult acts the part of a child.
• Apply stricter controls on incest-themed pornography, which studies indicates is often promoted by platform algorithms.
• Add further 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 conduct spot checks on adult platforms and act on complaints of illegal content.

The campaigners argue that these measures would ensure the protections that have existed for decades offline finally are extended to the online sphere.