British Pornography Traffic Declines After Identity Verifications, But Virtual Private Network Use Surges, Reports Watchdog

Access to pornography platforms in the United Kingdom has decreased markedly after the enforcement of mandatory age verification earlier this year, as reported by the country's communications watchdog. At the same time, the usage of specialist software designed to circumvent these blocks has risen.

Immediate Drop in User Numbers After Rule Implementation

The introduction of age verification on 25 July caused an prompt reduction in traffic to leading online adult platforms, including the leading provider in the UK. Data indicates that visitor numbers to this platform in August were 9.8 million, a drop of 1.5 million compared to the same period in 2024.

In total, visitor numbers to the ten most-visited adult services in the UK have now settled at a markedly decreased volume than before the late July deadline. Later analysis shows this decline in site visits persisted past August.

Surge in Virtual Private Network Adoption to Bypass Restrictions

Reacting to the new rules, use of Virtual Private Networks (VPNs)—which can get around geographic blocks by routing internet traffic through another country—increased dramatically following 25 July.

Usage peaked at more than 1.4 million in mid-August, up from around 650,000 people prior to the checks began. Subsequently, the watchdog stated that VPN usage has since decreased, with current numbers standing at around 900,000. It added that the volume of daily VPN use remains “much lower” than user numbers for adult sites.

Teenagers Responding to Damaging Material

Elsewhere, the regulator's annual study found that about 60% of young people aged 11 to 17 had taken action after encountering damaging content on the internet. Steps taken ranged from reporting the material to the platform to blocking the user who shared it.

This survey was conducted prior to new regulations took effect that require platforms to stop children from accessing harmful content, including material related to suicide and adult material. The primary way young people encountered such content was by scrolling through a social media timeline, indicating that recommendation systems were serving harmful material.

Ministers Announce Review of Adult Content Legislation

In a related development, the ministers stated it would review the legislation relating to pornography to assess whether it is effective in the ever-developing online world.

“The examination will investigate the efficacy of the existing law in regarding criminalising, among other things, harmful portrayals of familial abuse and any forms of pornography which promote the abuse of children,” said a government official.

Advocates Push For Stricter Online Controls

Campaigners for better regulation of online pornography have called on the government to outlaw so-called “barely legal” material. This encompasses content featuring incest scenes or that encourages child sexual abuse by using young-looking performers portraying children.

Proposed amendments to government bills seek to:

• Ban pornography where performers are mimicking children, sometimes recorded in environments like children’s bedrooms.
• Broaden the offence of making an exploitative portrayal of a child to include material where an older performer plays the role of a child.
• Introduce tighter regulation on familial abuse pornography, which studies suggests is often promoted by site systems.
• Add additional restrictions on “nudification” software, potentially making it an illegal act to possess tools designed to create private images without permission.
• Establish a new, separate regulatory body to perform spot checks on adult platforms and respond to complaints of unlawful content.

The campaigners contend that these steps would ensure the protections that have existed for years in the physical world finally are extended to the digital age.