UK Pornography Site Visits Declines After Identity Verifications, But VPN Usage Spikes, States Watchdog
Visitor numbers to pornography sites in the UK has seen a notable drop since the introduction of mandatory age verification earlier this year, according to the nation's communications regulator. Concurrently, the usage of tools designed to circumvent these barriers has risen.
Immediate Drop in Visitor Figures After Law Enforcement
The enforcement of age vetting on 25 July led to an immediate fall in visits to major online adult platforms, such as the most visited site in the UK. Data reveals that user traffic to this platform in August stood at 9.8 million, a decline of 1.5 million from the same period in 2024.
Overall, visitor numbers to the 10 top adult services in the UK have now stabilized at a “lower level” than before the late July implementation date. Later data shows this downward trend in site visits continued past August.
Sharp Increase in VPN Usage to Bypass Restrictions
In response to the new rules, use of Virtual Private Networks (VPNs)—which can get around location-based blocks by routing internet traffic via another country—more than doubled after 25 July.
User numbers peaked at over 1.4 million in mid-August, rising from approximately 650,000 people prior to the verification began. However, the regulator stated that VPN usage has since fallen back, with latest figures at around 900,000. It clarified that the level of daily VPN use remains “much lower” than user numbers for adult services.
Teenagers Responding to Damaging Material
Elsewhere, the watchdog's report revealed that about 60% of teenagers aged 11 to 17 had taken action after encountering distressing content online. Steps taken included reporting the content to the platform to muting the user who posted it.
This research was conducted prior to new rules came into force that compel social media companies to prevent children from seeing harmful content, including material related to self-harm and adult material. The most common way teenagers encountered such content was by scrolling through a social media timeline, indicating that recommendation systems were serving inappropriate material.
Government Launch Review of Adult Content Legislation
Separately, the ministers announced it would review the criminal law governing pornography to consider whether it is effective in the modern digital age.
“The review will investigate the efficacy of the current law in regarding making illegal, for example, harmful depictions of incest and any types of pornography which promote child sexual abuse,” stated a justice minister.
Advocates Call For Tighter Digital Regulations
Advocates for tighter regulation of adult content have called on the authorities to ban so-called “barely legal” material. This includes content featuring simulated familial abuse or that encourages abuse by casting youthful performers portraying children.
Proposed amendments to government bills aim to:
- Prohibit pornography where adults are impersonating children, sometimes filmed in settings like children’s bedrooms.
- Extend the crime of making an exploitative portrayal of a child to cover material where an older performer plays the role of a child.
- Apply tighter regulation on familial abuse pornography, which studies suggests is heavily recommended by platform algorithms.
- Introduce further restrictions on “nudification” technology, potentially making it an offence to possess tools designed to generate private images without permission.
- Establish a new, separate oversight agency to conduct spot checks on pornography sites and act on reports of unlawful content.
The campaigners argue that these steps would ensure the protections that have existed for decades offline finally are extended to the digital age.
