UK Pornography Traffic Falls Following Age Checks, Yet Virtual Private Network Usage Surges, Reports Watchdog

Access to adult content websites in the United Kingdom has decreased markedly after the roll-out of age-checking measures earlier this year, according to the nation's communications authority. Concurrently, the usage of tools designed to circumvent these blocks has surged.

Immediate Fall in Visitor Numbers Following Rule Implementation

The introduction of age vetting on 25 July caused an immediate fall in visits to popular pornography sites, such as the top provider in the UK. Data indicates that user traffic to this site in August reached 9.8 million, a decrease of 1.5 million compared to the same period in 2024.

Overall, visitor numbers to the ten top adult services in the UK have now stabilized at a significantly reduced level than before the end-of-July deadline. Subsequent data suggests this decline in site visits persisted beyond August.

Surge in Virtual Private Network Usage to Evade Restrictions

Reacting to the new regulations, adoption of Virtual Private Networks (VPNs)—which can get around geographic blocks by routing connections via another nation—increased dramatically following 25 July.

User numbers peaked at more than 1.4 million in mid-August, up from approximately 650,000 users prior to the verification were introduced. However, the watchdog noted that VPN usage has afterwards fallen back, with latest figures at approximately 900,000. It clarified that the level of daily VPN use remains “much lower” than user numbers for adult sites.

Young People Responding to Damaging Material

Elsewhere, the regulator's annual study revealed that about 60% of young people aged 11 to 17 had acted after seeing harmful content online. Steps taken ranged from flagging the content to the site to muting the user who shared it.

This research was conducted prior to new rules came into force that require platforms to stop children from accessing harmful content, including material related to suicide and adult material. The most common way teenagers came across such content was by scrolling through a platform feed, suggesting that algorithms were serving harmful material.

Ministers Launch Examination of Pornography Legislation

Separately, the government announced it would examine the legislation relating to pornography to consider whether it is “fit for purpose” in the ever-developing online world.

“The review will look into the efficacy of the existing law in relation to criminalising, among other things, damaging depictions of familial abuse and any types of pornography which encourage child sexual abuse,” stated a justice minister.

Advocates Call For Tighter Online Controls

Advocates for better control of adult content have called on the government to outlaw so-called “barely legal” material. This encompasses content featuring simulated familial abuse or that appears to promote abuse by casting young-looking performers portraying children.

Proposed amendments to legislation aim to:

• Prohibit pornography where performers are impersonating children, often recorded in environments like children’s bedrooms.
• Extend the crime of creating an indecent image of a child to cover material where an adult acts the part of a child.
• Apply stricter regulation on incest-themed pornography, which research suggests is often promoted by platform algorithms.
• Introduce further controls on “nudification” technology, potentially making it an illegal act to possess software designed to generate private images without permission.
• Create a new, independent oversight agency to perform spot checks on pornography sites and act on complaints of unlawful content.

The campaigners argue that these measures would ensure the protections that have been enforced for years in the physical world finally apply to the online sphere.