UK Adult Content Site Visits Falls Following Age Verifications, Yet Virtual Private Network Usage Surges, States Watchdog
Visitor numbers to adult content platforms in the United Kingdom has fallen significantly after the roll-out of age-checking measures earlier this year, according to the country's communications watchdog. At the same time, the use of specialist software designed to dodge these barriers has increased.
Sharp Fall in User Numbers After Law Implementation
The introduction of age verification on 25 July led to an swift decline in visits to major pornography sites, such as the top site in the UK. Figures indicates that visitor numbers to this site in August reached 9.8 million, a drop of 1.5 million compared to the same period in 2024.
Overall, traffic to the 10 most-visited adult services in the UK have now settled at a significantly reduced level than before the late July deadline. Later analysis indicates this decline in site visits continued past August.
Sharp Increase in VPN Adoption to Evade Checks
Reacting to the new regulations, adoption of Virtual Private Networks (VPNs)—which can circumvent geographic restrictions by masking connections through another nation—surged after 25 July.
User numbers reached a high at over 1.4 million in mid-August, rising from approximately 650,000 people before the verification began. However, the regulator noted that VPN usage has since decreased, with latest numbers at approximately 900,000. It added that the level of regular VPN use is “much lower” than user numbers for pornography services.
Teenagers Responding to Harmful Material
Elsewhere, the watchdog's report revealed that about 60% of teenagers aged 11 to 17 had acted after encountering distressing content online. Steps taken ranged from flagging the material to the platform to muting the person who posted it.
This research was carried out prior to new regulations came into force that require social media companies to stop children from seeing dangerous content, including material related to self-harm and pornography. The most common way young people came across such content was by scrolling through a social media feed, suggesting that algorithms were showing harmful material.
Ministers Launch Review of Pornography Legislation
In a related development, the government stated it would examine the legislation relating to pornography to consider whether it is adequate in the ever-developing digital age.
“The review will look into the effectiveness of the existing law in relation to making illegal, for example, damaging depictions of incest and any forms of pornography which encourage child sexual abuse,” said a government official.
Campaigners Push For Stricter Online Controls
Advocates for tighter control of adult content have called on the government to ban so-called “barely legal” material. This includes content featuring simulated familial abuse or that encourages abuse by using young-looking adults portraying children.
Proposed changes to legislation aim to:
- Ban pornography where adults are mimicking children, sometimes recorded in settings like children’s bedrooms.
- Broaden the offence of making an indecent image of a child to cover material where an older performer plays the role of a child.
- Introduce tighter regulation on familial abuse pornography, which studies indicates is heavily recommended by platform algorithms.
- Introduce additional restrictions on “nudification” software, potentially making it an offence to possess software designed to create non-consensual nude images.
- Establish a new, independent oversight agency to perform spot checks on adult platforms and act on reports of unlawful content.
The advocates contend that these steps would ensure the protections that have existed for decades in the physical world finally apply to the online sphere.
