British Adult Content Traffic Falls Following Age Verifications, But Virtual Private Network Use Surges, Reports Regulator
Visitor numbers to adult content platforms in the UK has fallen significantly since the enforcement of mandatory age verification earlier this year, as reported by the country's communications authority. Concurrently, the usage of specialist software designed to dodge these restrictions has surged.
Immediate Drop in User Figures Following Rule Implementation
The introduction of age verification on 25 July led to an immediate decline in visits to major online adult platforms, including the most visited provider in the UK. Figures shows that visitor numbers to this site in August were 9.8 million, a decrease of 1.5 million from the equivalent month in 2024.
In total, visitor numbers to the 10 most-visited adult services in the UK have now settled at a significantly reduced level than prior to the end-of-July deadline. Later data indicates this slump in viewing persisted past August.
Sharp Increase in VPN Usage to Bypass Checks
Reacting to the new regulations, adoption of VPN software—which can circumvent location-based blocks by masking connections through another country—surged following 25 July.
User numbers peaked at over 1.4 million in mid-August, rising from around 650,000 users before the checks were introduced. Subsequently, the watchdog stated that VPN usage has afterwards decreased, with current numbers at approximately 900,000. It added that the level of regular VPN use is “much lower” than user numbers for pornography services.
Teenagers Responding to Damaging Online Content
In other findings, the regulator's annual study found that about 60% of teenagers aged 11 to 17 had acted after encountering harmful content on the internet. Actions included flagging the content to the site to muting the person who shared it.
This research was conducted prior to new regulations came into force that require social media companies to prevent children from accessing dangerous content, including material related to suicide and pornography. The primary way teenagers encountered such content was by scrolling through a social media timeline, suggesting that recommendation systems were serving harmful material.
Ministers Announce Examination of Adult Content Legislation
Separately, the government announced it would review the legislation governing pornography to assess whether it is “fit for purpose” in the modern online world.
“The review will look into the efficacy of the current law in regarding making illegal, among other things, harmful depictions of familial abuse and any types of pornography which encourage child sexual abuse,” said a justice minister.
Campaigners Call For Tighter Digital Controls
Advocates for better control of adult content have urged the authorities to ban so-called “barely legal” material. This includes content featuring simulated familial abuse or that encourages child sexual abuse by casting young-looking performers portraying children.
Proposed changes to government bills seek to:
- Prohibit pornography where performers are mimicking children, sometimes recorded in environments like children’s bedrooms.
- Broaden the offence of creating 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 research suggests is heavily recommended by platform algorithms.
- Add additional controls on “nudification” software, potentially making it an illegal act to own software designed to generate private images without permission.
- Create a new, separate regulatory body to perform inspections on pornography sites and act on reports of illegal content.
The advocates argue that these measures would ensure the protections that have been enforced for years offline finally are extended to the digital age.
