UK Pornography Traffic Falls Following Age Checks, Yet Virtual Private Network Use Spikes, Reports Watchdog

Traffic to adult content platforms in the United Kingdom has seen a notable drop since the roll-out of age-checking measures this summer, according to the country's communications authority. Simultaneously, the adoption of specialist software designed to dodge these restrictions has risen.

Sharp Drop in User Figures After Law Enforcement

The enforcement of age vetting on 25 July led to an swift reduction in visits to leading pornography sites, including the most visited provider in the UK. Figures reveals that visitor numbers to this platform in August reached 9.8 million, a drop of 1.5 million compared to the equivalent month in 2024.

In total, traffic to the ten most-visited adult services in the UK have now stabilized at a markedly decreased volume than before the late July implementation date. Subsequent analysis indicates this slump in site visits continued beyond August.

Sharp Increase in Virtual Private Network Usage to Evade Checks

In response to the new regulations, adoption of VPN software—which can get around geographic blocks by masking internet traffic through another country—more than doubled after 25 July.

User numbers peaked at more than 1.4 million in mid-August, up from approximately 650,000 users prior to the verification began. Subsequently, the watchdog stated that VPN usage has since steadily declined, with latest numbers at approximately 900,000. It added that the level of daily VPN use is “much lower” than user numbers for adult sites.

Teenagers Responding to Damaging Online Content

In other findings, the watchdog's report revealed that about 60% of teenagers aged 11 to 17 had acted after encountering harmful content on the internet. Actions included reporting the material to the platform to muting the user who posted it.

This survey was carried out before new rules came into force that compel platforms to prevent children from seeing harmful content, including material related to self-harm and adult material. The most common way young people came across such content was by looking through a social media timeline, indicating that algorithms were showing harmful material.

Ministers Announce Review of Adult Content Legislation

In a related development, the ministers stated it would examine the criminal law relating to pornography to assess whether it is effective in the modern digital age.

“The review will look into the efficacy of the current law in regarding criminalising, among other things, damaging depictions of familial abuse and any types of pornography which encourage the abuse of children,” said a government official.

Advocates Push For Stricter Digital Controls

Campaigners for tighter regulation of online pornography have urged the authorities to ban so-called “barely legal” material. This encompasses content featuring simulated familial abuse or that appears to promote child sexual abuse by using youthful adults dressed as children.

Suggested amendments to legislation aim to:

• Ban pornography where adults are impersonating children, sometimes filmed in settings like children’s bedrooms.
• Broaden the offence of making an exploitative portrayal of a child to cover material where an adult plays the role of a child.
• Introduce tighter controls on incest-themed pornography, which studies indicates is heavily recommended by platform algorithms.
• Add further restrictions on “nudification” software, potentially making it an offence to possess software designed to create non-consensual nude images.
• Create a new, separate oversight agency to perform inspections on adult platforms and act on complaints of unlawful content.

The campaigners contend that these measures would ensure the safeguards that have been enforced for decades in the physical world finally are extended to the online sphere.