British Adult Content Traffic Falls After Identity Checks, But Virtual Private Network Use Surges, Reports Watchdog

Visitor numbers to adult content platforms in the UK has decreased markedly after the enforcement of age-checking measures earlier this year, as reported by the country's communications authority. Concurrently, the adoption of specialist software designed to dodge these barriers has increased.

Immediate Drop in Visitor Numbers After Law Implementation

The enforcement of age vetting on 25 July led to an prompt reduction in visits to leading online adult platforms, including the most visited site in the UK. Data indicates that user traffic to this site in August were 9.8 million, a decline of 1.5 million from the equivalent month in 2024.

Overall, visitor numbers to the ten top adult services in the UK have now settled at a markedly decreased volume than prior to the end-of-July implementation date. Subsequent data suggests this downward trend in viewing persisted past August.

Surge in VPN Adoption to Bypass Checks

Reacting to the new regulations, use of Virtual Private Networks (VPNs)—which can get around location-based blocks by routing connections through another country—increased dramatically after 25 July.

Usage peaked at more than 1.4 million in mid-August, rising from around 650,000 users prior to the checks began. However, the watchdog noted that VPN usage has afterwards decreased, with current numbers at approximately 900,000. It added that the volume of daily VPN use is “much lower” than traffic for pornography services.

Teenagers Responding to Damaging Material

Elsewhere, the regulator's report revealed that about 60% of teenagers aged 11 to 17 had acted after encountering damaging content online. Steps taken ranged from reporting the material to the site to blocking the person who posted it.

This survey was carried out before new regulations came into force that require platforms to prevent children from seeing harmful content, including material related to suicide and adult material. The primary way teenagers encountered such content was by looking through a social media timeline, indicating that recommendation systems were serving harmful material.

Ministers Announce Review of Adult Content Laws

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

“The review will look into the efficacy of the current law in relation to criminalising, for example, harmful depictions of familial abuse and any forms of pornography which promote child sexual abuse,” said a justice minister.

Campaigners Call For Stricter Online Controls

Advocates for tighter regulation of adult content have urged the authorities to outlaw so-called “barely legal” material. This encompasses content featuring incest scenes or that encourages abuse by casting youthful performers dressed as children.

Proposed amendments to government bills aim to:

• Prohibit pornography where performers are impersonating children, sometimes filmed in environments like children’s bedrooms.
• Broaden the crime of creating an indecent image of a child to include material where an adult acts the part of a child.
• Introduce tighter controls on familial abuse pornography, which research suggests is heavily recommended by site systems.
• Introduce additional controls on “nudification” software, potentially making it an illegal act to possess tools designed to generate private images without permission.
• Establish a new, independent regulatory body to perform spot checks on adult platforms and act on complaints of illegal content.

The advocates argue that these measures would ensure the safeguards that have been enforced for decades offline finally apply to the online sphere.