British Adult Content Traffic Falls Following Age Checks, Yet VPN Usage Surges, Reports Watchdog

Traffic to pornography platforms in the UK has fallen significantly after the introduction of age-checking measures earlier this year, as reported by the country's communications regulator. At the same time, the use of tools designed to circumvent these barriers has surged.

Sharp Drop in User Numbers Following Rule Implementation

The introduction of age vetting on 25 July resulted in an swift fall in traffic to major online adult platforms, including the leading provider in the UK. Data reveals that user traffic to this platform in August reached 9.8 million, a drop of 1.5 million from the same period in 2024.

Overall, traffic to the ten most-visited adult services in the UK have now settled at a significantly reduced level than before the late July deadline. Subsequent analysis shows this downward trend in viewing persisted beyond August.

Sharp Increase in VPN Usage to Evade Checks

Reacting to the new rules, use of Virtual Private Networks (VPNs)—which can get around geographic restrictions by masking connections through another country—increased dramatically after 25 July.

User numbers reached a high at over 1.4 million in the middle of August, rising from approximately 650,000 users before the verification began. Subsequently, the watchdog stated that VPN usage has afterwards decreased, with latest numbers at approximately 900,000. It added that the level of regular VPN use remains “much lower” than user numbers for adult services.

Teenagers Responding to Damaging Material

Elsewhere, the regulator's report found that about 60% of young people aged 11 to 17 had taken action after encountering distressing content on the internet. Steps taken ranged from flagging the content to the platform to blocking the person who shared it.

This survey was conducted prior to new rules came into force that compel social media companies to prevent children from accessing dangerous content, such as material related to suicide and adult material. The primary way young people encountered such content was by looking through a platform feed, suggesting that algorithms were showing inappropriate material.

Government Launch Examination of Adult Content Laws

Separately, the government announced 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 existing law in relation to criminalising, among other things, harmful depictions of familial abuse and any types of pornography which encourage the abuse of children,” said a justice minister.

Advocates Push For Tighter Online Controls

Campaigners for tighter regulation of adult content have called on the authorities to ban so-called “barely legal” material. This includes content featuring incest scenes or that encourages child sexual abuse by casting young-looking performers dressed as children.

Suggested amendments to legislation seek to:

• Ban pornography where performers are impersonating children, often recorded in settings like children’s bedrooms.
• Broaden the crime of making an exploitative portrayal of a child to include material where an older performer plays the role of a child.
• Introduce tighter regulation on familial abuse pornography, which studies suggests is heavily recommended by site algorithms.
• Add additional controls on “nudification” technology, potentially making it an illegal act to own tools designed to generate non-consensual nude images.
• Create a new, independent regulatory body to conduct spot checks on pornography sites and respond to reports of illegal content.

The campaigners argue that these measures would ensure the safeguards that have been enforced for decades offline finally apply to the digital age.