British Adult Content Site Visits Falls After Identity Checks, Yet Virtual Private Network Use Surges, Reports Regulator
Access to pornography platforms in the United Kingdom has decreased markedly after the introduction of mandatory age verification earlier this year, according to the country's communications authority. Simultaneously, the adoption of specialist software designed to bypass these blocks has surged.
Immediate Drop in User Figures Following Law Implementation
The enforcement of age verification on 25 July resulted in an swift fall in visits to popular pornography sites, such as the leading site in the UK. Figures shows that visitor numbers to this platform in August were 9.8 million, a decline of 1.5 million compared to the same period in 2024.
In total, visitor numbers to the ten most-visited adult services in the UK have now stabilized at a significantly reduced level than before the late July implementation date. Subsequent data shows this downward trend in viewing continued past August.
Surge in Virtual Private Network Usage to Bypass Restrictions
Reacting to the new regulations, adoption of VPN software—which can get around location-based blocks by masking connections through another country—more than doubled following 25 July.
User numbers peaked at more than 1.4 million in mid-August, rising from around 650,000 people prior to the checks began. However, the regulator noted that VPN usage has afterwards steadily declined, with latest numbers at around 900,000. It clarified that the level of regular VPN use is “much lower” than user numbers for pornography services.
Young People Taking Action to Damaging Material
In other findings, the watchdog's report found that about 60% of teenagers aged 11 to 17 had taken action after encountering distressing content online. Actions included flagging the material to the site to blocking the user who shared it.
This research was conducted before new regulations came into force that compel platforms to prevent children from accessing harmful content, including material related to suicide and adult material. The primary way young people came across such content was by scrolling through a social media feed, indicating that algorithms were showing harmful material.
Ministers Launch Examination of Adult Content Laws
Separately, the government stated it would review the criminal law governing pornography to assess whether it is effective in the ever-developing online world.
“The review will investigate the efficacy of the existing law in relation to making illegal, among other things, damaging portrayals of incest and any forms of pornography which encourage child sexual abuse,” said a justice minister.
Advocates Call For Tighter Digital Regulations
Campaigners for better regulation of online pornography have urged the government to ban so-called “barely legal” material. This includes content featuring simulated familial abuse or that appears to promote child sexual abuse by using young-looking performers portraying children.
Proposed changes to government bills seek to:
- Ban pornography where performers are impersonating children, sometimes recorded in settings like children’s bedrooms.
- Extend the crime of creating an exploitative portrayal of a child to include material where an adult plays the role of a child.
- Apply stricter controls on incest-themed pornography, which research suggests is heavily recommended by site systems.
- Add further controls on “nudification” technology, potentially making it an offence to possess software designed to generate non-consensual nude images.
- Create a new, separate oversight agency to conduct inspections on adult platforms and act on reports of unlawful content.
The campaigners argue that these steps would ensure the safeguards that have been enforced for decades in the physical world finally are extended to the online sphere.