British Pornography Traffic Declines Following Identity Verifications, But VPN Usage Spikes, Reports Regulator

Visitor numbers to pornography sites in the United Kingdom has decreased markedly since the introduction of age-checking measures this summer, as reported by the nation's communications authority. Simultaneously, the adoption of tools designed to dodge these barriers has increased.

Sharp Fall in User Numbers Following Law Implementation

The introduction of age verification on 25 July caused an immediate fall in traffic to popular pornography sites, such as the leading provider in the UK. Figures indicates that visitor numbers to this platform in August reached 9.8 million, a drop of 1.5 million compared to the same period in 2024.

In total, visitor numbers to the 10 most-visited adult services in the UK have now settled at a markedly decreased volume than before the end-of-July deadline. Later analysis shows this slump in site visits persisted beyond August.

Sharp Increase in Virtual Private Network Usage to Evade Restrictions

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

Usage reached a high at more than 1.4 million in the middle of August, up from approximately 650,000 people prior to the checks began. However, the regulator noted that VPN usage has since steadily declined, with latest numbers at around 900,000. It added that the volume of daily VPN use remains “much lower” than user numbers for pornography sites.

Teenagers Responding to Harmful Online Content

Elsewhere, the watchdog's report found that about 60% of teenagers aged 11 to 17 had taken action after encountering distressing content online. Actions included reporting the material to the site to blocking the user who shared it.

This survey was conducted prior to new regulations came into force that require social media companies to prevent children from seeing dangerous content, including material related to self-harm and adult material. The most common way teenagers encountered such content was by looking through a social media feed, indicating that algorithms were showing harmful material.

Government Announce Review of Pornography Laws

Separately, the government announced it would review the legislation governing pornography to assess whether it is adequate in the modern online world.

“The review will investigate the effectiveness of the existing law in relation to making illegal, among other things, damaging portrayals of incest and any types of pornography which encourage the abuse of children,” stated a justice minister.

Campaigners Push For Stricter Digital Regulations

Campaigners for better control of online pornography have called on the authorities to outlaw so-called “barely legal” material. This includes content featuring simulated familial abuse or that encourages abuse by using young-looking performers portraying children.

Proposed changes to government bills aim to:

• Prohibit pornography where performers are impersonating children, often filmed in environments like children’s bedrooms.
• Extend the offence of making an exploitative portrayal of a child to include material where an adult acts the part of a child.
• Apply tighter regulation on familial abuse pornography, which research indicates is often promoted by site systems.
• Introduce additional controls on “nudification” technology, potentially making it an offence to own tools designed to create non-consensual nude images.
• Create a new, independent oversight agency to conduct inspections on adult platforms and act on reports of unlawful content.

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