British Adult Content Traffic Declines Following Identity Verifications, Yet VPN Usage Spikes, States Regulator
Access to adult content platforms in the UK has fallen significantly after the enforcement of age-checking measures earlier this year, according to the country's communications authority. Concurrently, the adoption of specialist software designed to circumvent these restrictions has risen.
Immediate Drop in Visitor Figures Following Rule Enforcement
The enforcement of age vetting on 25 July led to an immediate fall in visits to popular online adult platforms, including the leading site in the UK. Data indicates that visitor numbers to this site in August were 9.8 million, a decline 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 significantly reduced level than before the end-of-July implementation date. Subsequent data indicates this downward trend in site visits persisted past August.
Surge in VPN Adoption to Bypass Checks
Reacting to the new regulations, adoption of VPN software—which can get around geographic restrictions by routing connections via another country—increased dramatically after 25 July.
Usage reached a high at over 1.4 million in mid-August, up from around 650,000 users before the verification began. Subsequently, the watchdog stated that VPN usage has since fallen back, with current numbers standing at approximately 900,000. It clarified that the level of regular VPN use is “much lower” than traffic for pornography sites.
Young People Taking Action to Damaging Material
In other findings, the regulator's report found that about 60% of young people aged 11 to 17 had acted after encountering damaging content on the internet. Steps taken ranged from reporting the material to the platform to blocking the person who posted it.
This survey was conducted before new regulations came into force that require platforms to prevent children from seeing dangerous content, including material related to suicide and adult material. The most common way young people came across such content was by scrolling through a platform timeline, indicating that recommendation systems were serving inappropriate material.
Government Launch Review of Adult Content Legislation
Separately, the government stated it would examine the criminal law governing pornography to consider whether it is effective in the ever-developing digital age.
“The examination will investigate the efficacy of the existing law in relation to making illegal, among other things, harmful depictions of incest and any types of pornography which promote the abuse of children,” stated a government official.
Campaigners Call For Stricter Digital Controls
Campaigners for better control of online pornography have urged the government to outlaw so-called “barely legal” material. This encompasses content featuring simulated familial abuse or that encourages child sexual abuse by using youthful performers portraying children.
Suggested amendments to legislation aim to:
- Prohibit pornography where performers are mimicking children, sometimes recorded in settings like children’s bedrooms.
- Broaden the offence of creating an indecent image of a child to cover material where an adult plays the role of a child.
- Apply stricter regulation on familial abuse pornography, which research suggests is heavily recommended by site algorithms.
- Introduce additional controls on “nudification” technology, potentially making it an illegal act to own tools designed to create private images without permission.
- Create a new, independent oversight agency to perform inspections on adult platforms and act on reports of illegal content.
The campaigners argue that these steps would ensure the safeguards that have existed for years in the physical world finally apply to the online sphere.
