UK Adult Content Site Visits Declines Following Age Checks, But VPN Usage Surges, States Watchdog

Visitor numbers to adult content platforms in the United Kingdom has seen a notable drop after the roll-out of age-checking measures earlier this year, according to the country's communications authority. Concurrently, the use of tools designed to dodge these restrictions has surged.

Immediate Drop in Visitor Figures Following Rule Enforcement

The enforcement of age vetting on 25 July resulted in an immediate fall in visits to leading pornography sites, such as the most visited provider in the UK. Figures reveals that visitor numbers to this site in August reached 9.8 million, a decline of 1.5 million compared to the equivalent month in 2024.

Overall, traffic to the 10 top adult services in the UK have now settled at a “lower level” than before the end-of-July implementation date. Subsequent data indicates this downward trend in viewing persisted beyond August.

Sharp Increase in VPN Adoption to Evade 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—surged following 25 July.

User numbers reached a high at more than 1.4 million in mid-August, rising from around 650,000 people before the checks began. Subsequently, the watchdog noted that VPN usage has since fallen back, with current numbers standing at around 900,000. It clarified that the volume of regular VPN use is “much lower” than traffic for adult sites.

Young People Taking Action to Damaging Material

In other findings, the watchdog's report found that about 60% of teenagers aged 11 to 17 had acted after seeing distressing content online. Actions included reporting the material to the site to blocking the person who posted it.

This research was carried out before new rules took effect that require social media companies to stop children from seeing harmful content, including material related to suicide and pornography. The most common way young people encountered such content was by scrolling through a platform timeline, indicating that algorithms were showing inappropriate material.

Ministers Announce Examination of Adult Content Laws

Separately, the ministers stated it would examine the legislation governing pornography to assess whether it is adequate in the modern digital age.

“The examination will investigate the efficacy of the current law in relation to criminalising, for example, damaging portrayals of familial abuse and any types of pornography which promote the abuse of children,” said a justice minister.

Advocates Push For Tighter Digital Controls

Advocates for tighter regulation of adult content have called on the government to outlaw so-called “barely legal” material. This includes content featuring incest scenes or that appears to promote child sexual abuse by casting youthful adults portraying children.

Proposed amendments to legislation seek to:

• Ban pornography where performers are impersonating children, often filmed in environments like children’s bedrooms.
• Extend the crime of making an indecent image of a child to cover material where an older performer acts the part of a child.
• Apply tighter regulation on familial abuse pornography, which studies suggests is often promoted by platform systems.
• Introduce additional restrictions on “nudification” technology, potentially making it an illegal act to own software designed to create private images without permission.
• Create a new, independent regulatory body to conduct spot checks on pornography sites and respond to complaints of unlawful content.

The advocates contend that these measures would ensure the protections that have existed for decades offline finally apply to the digital age.