UK Pornography Traffic Falls Following Age Verifications, But VPN Use Surges, States Watchdog

Visitor numbers to pornography websites in the United Kingdom has seen a notable drop since the enforcement of age-checking measures this summer, as reported by the country's communications regulator. Simultaneously, the use of tools designed to circumvent these blocks has surged.

Sharp Fall in User Numbers After Law Implementation

The introduction of age verification on 25 July caused an swift fall in visits to major pornography sites, such as the most visited provider in the UK. Data shows 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.

In total, traffic to the ten most-visited pornography sites in the UK have now stabilized at a significantly reduced level than prior to the late July implementation date. Subsequent data indicates this downward trend in site visits continued past August.

Surge in VPN Adoption to Bypass Restrictions

In response to the new regulations, use of Virtual Private Networks (VPNs)—which can get around location-based restrictions by masking connections through another country—more than doubled following 25 July.

User numbers reached a high at more than 1.4 million in mid-August, rising from approximately 650,000 people prior to the checks were introduced. However, the watchdog noted that VPN usage has since steadily declined, with latest figures at approximately 900,000. It clarified that the volume of regular VPN use remains “much lower” than traffic for pornography sites.

Young People Responding to Damaging Online Content

In other findings, the regulator's annual study found that about 60% of teenagers aged 11 to 17 had acted after seeing distressing content online. 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 require social media companies to prevent children from seeing dangerous content, including material related to suicide and adult material. The primary way teenagers encountered such content was by looking through a platform feed, indicating that recommendation systems were serving inappropriate material.

Government Launch Review of Adult Content Legislation

Separately, the ministers stated it would review the criminal law governing pornography to consider whether it is adequate in the modern online world.

“The review will investigate the effectiveness of the current law in relation to making illegal, among other things, harmful depictions of incest and any types of pornography which promote the abuse of children,” said a justice minister.

Campaigners Push For Stricter Digital Regulations

Campaigners for better regulation of online pornography have urged the government to outlaw so-called “barely legal” material. This encompasses content featuring simulated familial abuse or that encourages abuse by using young-looking performers dressed as children.

Proposed amendments to legislation seek to:

• Ban pornography where adults are mimicking children, often filmed in settings 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.
• Introduce stricter regulation on familial abuse pornography, which studies suggests is heavily recommended by platform systems.
• Introduce further restrictions on “nudification” technology, potentially making it an illegal act to own software designed to generate non-consensual nude images.
• Establish a new, separate oversight agency to conduct spot checks on adult platforms and respond to complaints of illegal content.

The campaigners argue that these measures would ensure the protections that have existed for years offline finally apply to the digital age.