British Adult Content Site Visits Falls Following Identity Checks, But Virtual Private Network Usage Surges, States Regulator

Visitor numbers to pornography platforms in the United Kingdom has seen a notable drop after the enforcement of age-checking measures earlier this year, as reported by the country's communications authority. At the same time, the adoption of specialist software designed to bypass these barriers has risen.

Immediate Fall in Visitor Numbers Following Law Implementation

The enforcement of age verification on 25 July resulted in an swift fall in traffic to leading pornography sites, such as the most visited provider in the UK. Figures reveals that visitor numbers to this platform in August reached 9.8 million, a decrease of 1.5 million compared to the same period in 2024.

Overall, visitor numbers to the 10 top pornography sites in the UK have now stabilized at a markedly decreased volume than before the end-of-July implementation date. Later data shows this decline in site visits persisted beyond August.

Sharp Increase in Virtual Private Network Usage to Evade Checks

In response to the new regulations, adoption of VPN software—which can bypass geographic restrictions by masking internet traffic via another nation—increased dramatically following 25 July.

Usage reached a high at over 1.4 million in mid-August, up from around 650,000 people before the checks were introduced. Subsequently, the watchdog stated that VPN usage has afterwards decreased, with current numbers 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 Harmful Material

Elsewhere, the watchdog's report revealed that about 60% of young people aged 11 to 17 had taken action after encountering harmful content on the internet. Steps taken included flagging the content to the platform to blocking the person who posted it.

This survey was carried out before new rules came into force that compel social media companies to prevent children from accessing harmful content, such as material related to self-harm and adult material. The most common way young people encountered such content was by scrolling through a platform timeline, indicating that recommendation systems were showing harmful material.

Ministers Launch Review of Pornography Legislation

Separately, the government stated it would examine the legislation relating to pornography to consider whether it is effective in the modern online world.

“The examination will look into the effectiveness of the current law in regarding criminalising, among other things, harmful depictions of familial abuse and any forms of pornography which promote child sexual abuse,” said a justice minister.

Advocates Push For Stricter Online Regulations

Advocates for better regulation of online pornography have urged the government to ban so-called “barely legal” material. This encompasses content featuring incest scenes or that encourages abuse by casting youthful performers dressed as children.

Suggested changes to legislation aim to:

• Ban pornography where adults are impersonating children, often filmed in environments like children’s bedrooms.
• Extend the offence of creating an indecent image of a child to cover material where an older performer acts the part of a child.
• Introduce tighter regulation on familial abuse pornography, which research suggests is heavily recommended by site systems.
• Add further restrictions on “nudification” technology, potentially making it an offence to own tools designed to create non-consensual nude images.
• Establish a new, separate regulatory body to conduct inspections on adult platforms and respond to reports of illegal content.

The advocates contend that these measures would ensure the safeguards that have been enforced for years offline finally are extended to the digital age.