UK Pornography Site Visits Falls Following Age Verifications, Yet VPN Use Spikes, Reports Regulator

Access to pornography websites in the United Kingdom has seen a notable drop after the introduction of mandatory age verification earlier this year, according to the nation's communications authority. At the same time, the use of tools designed to circumvent these barriers has increased.

Sharp Drop in Visitor Numbers Following Rule Implementation

The introduction of age vetting on 25 July caused an swift fall in traffic to major pornography sites, including the most visited provider in the UK. Figures shows that visitor numbers to this site in August stood at 9.8 million, a decrease of 1.5 million compared to the equivalent month in 2024.

In total, traffic to the ten top adult services in the UK have now settled at a markedly decreased volume than prior to the end-of-July deadline. Later analysis indicates this slump in site visits continued beyond August.

Surge in Virtual Private Network Usage to Evade Checks

Reacting to the new rules, adoption of Virtual Private Networks (VPNs)—which can circumvent geographic restrictions by masking internet traffic through another nation—surged after 25 July.

User numbers peaked at more than 1.4 million in mid-August, rising from approximately 650,000 people prior to the verification were introduced. Subsequently, the regulator noted that VPN usage has since fallen back, with current numbers standing at approximately 900,000. It added that the volume of regular VPN use is “much lower” than traffic for adult sites.

Young People Responding to Harmful Material

Elsewhere, the watchdog's annual study revealed that about 60% of young people aged 11 to 17 had taken action after seeing damaging content online. Actions ranged from flagging the content to the site to blocking the user who posted it.

This survey was conducted before new rules took effect that compel platforms to prevent children from seeing dangerous content, including material related to self-harm and pornography. The primary way teenagers came across such content was by scrolling through a social media timeline, indicating that recommendation systems were showing harmful material.

Government Announce Review of Pornography Laws

Separately, the government announced it would review the legislation relating to pornography to consider whether it is “fit for purpose” in the ever-developing digital age.

“The review will look into the effectiveness 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,” stated a justice minister.

Campaigners Push For Stricter Online Controls

Advocates for tighter regulation of adult content have urged the authorities to outlaw so-called “barely legal” material. This includes content featuring simulated familial abuse or that encourages child sexual abuse by using youthful adults portraying children.

Proposed changes to government bills seek to:

• Prohibit pornography where performers are impersonating children, often recorded in environments like children’s bedrooms.
• Broaden the offence of making an indecent image of a child to cover 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” software, potentially making it an illegal act to own software designed to create private images without permission.
• Establish a new, separate oversight agency to conduct spot checks on pornography sites and respond to complaints of unlawful content.

The advocates argue that these steps would ensure the protections that have been enforced for years offline finally apply to the digital age.