UK Pornography Site Visits Declines After Identity Verifications, Yet Virtual Private Network Use Surges, Reports Watchdog

Access to adult content websites in the UK has seen a notable drop after the enforcement of age-checking measures this summer, as reported by the nation's communications authority. Concurrently, the adoption of specialist software designed to bypass these barriers has increased.

Sharp Fall in Visitor Numbers After Law Implementation

The enforcement of age verification on 25 July resulted in an prompt decline in visits to major pornography sites, including the leading site in the UK. Data indicates that visitor numbers to this site in August reached 9.8 million, a decrease of 1.5 million compared to the equivalent month in 2024.

In total, visitor numbers to the ten most-visited adult services in the UK have now stabilized at a significantly reduced level than before the end-of-July implementation date. Later analysis indicates this downward trend in site visits continued beyond August.

Sharp Increase in VPN Adoption to Evade Restrictions

Reacting to the new rules, use of Virtual Private Networks (VPNs)—which can circumvent location-based blocks by masking internet traffic via another nation—increased dramatically following 25 July.

User numbers reached a high at over 1.4 million in the middle of August, rising from approximately 650,000 people prior to the verification were introduced. However, the regulator noted that VPN usage has afterwards decreased, with current numbers standing at approximately 900,000. It added that the level of daily VPN use is “much lower” than user numbers for pornography services.

Teenagers Taking Action to Damaging Material

In other findings, the watchdog's report found that about 60% of young people aged 11 to 17 had taken action after encountering harmful content on the internet. Steps taken included flagging the content to the site to muting the person who posted it.

This survey was conducted prior to new rules took effect that compel social media companies to prevent children from accessing harmful content, including material related to suicide and adult material. The primary way teenagers came across such content was by looking through a social media feed, indicating that algorithms were showing inappropriate material.

Ministers Launch Examination of Adult Content Laws

In a related development, the ministers stated it would examine the legislation governing pornography to assess whether it is adequate in the ever-developing online world.

“The examination will look into the effectiveness of the existing law in relation to making illegal, among other things, harmful depictions of incest and any types of pornography which promote child sexual abuse,” said a justice minister.

Campaigners Call For Tighter Digital Regulations

Campaigners for better control of online pornography have called on the government to ban so-called “barely legal” material. This includes content featuring simulated familial abuse or that encourages child sexual abuse by casting youthful adults portraying children.

Suggested amendments to legislation seek to:

• Prohibit pornography where performers are impersonating children, often filmed in settings like children’s bedrooms.
• Extend the crime of creating an exploitative portrayal of a child to include material where an adult plays the role of a child.
• Introduce stricter regulation on incest-themed pornography, which studies indicates is often promoted by platform algorithms.
• Introduce further controls on “nudification” software, potentially making it an offence to own software designed to create non-consensual nude images.
• Create a new, independent regulatory body to conduct inspections on pornography sites and act on complaints of illegal content.

The campaigners argue that these measures would ensure the protections that have been enforced for years in the physical world finally are extended to the digital age.