British Adult Content Traffic Declines After Age Verifications, But Virtual Private Network Use Surges, States Watchdog
Traffic to adult content sites in the UK has fallen significantly after the enforcement of mandatory age verification earlier this year, as reported by the nation's communications regulator. Concurrently, the usage of tools designed to bypass these barriers has risen.
Sharp Fall in Visitor Numbers Following Rule Implementation
The enforcement of age vetting on 25 July led to an swift decline in traffic to popular online adult platforms, such as the leading provider in the UK. Data reveals that visitor numbers to this site in August reached 9.8 million, a decline 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 stabilized at a “lower level” than before the late July implementation date. Subsequent analysis indicates this decline in site visits persisted past August.
Surge in Virtual Private Network Adoption to Bypass Restrictions
In response to the new regulations, use of VPN software—which can get around geographic blocks by routing internet traffic via another country—increased dramatically after 25 July.
Usage peaked at more than 1.4 million in mid-August, up from approximately 650,000 people prior to the verification were introduced. However, the watchdog noted that VPN usage has afterwards steadily declined, with current numbers at approximately 900,000. It added that the level of daily VPN use remains “much lower” than traffic for adult sites.
Young People Responding to Damaging Online Content
Elsewhere, the regulator's report found that about 60% of teenagers aged 11 to 17 had taken action after encountering damaging content on the internet. Actions ranged from flagging the content to the site to blocking the person who shared it.
This research was conducted before new regulations took effect that require social media companies to prevent children from seeing harmful content, including material related to suicide and adult material. The most common way young people encountered such content was by scrolling through a platform timeline, indicating that recommendation systems were serving inappropriate material.
Ministers Announce Review of Adult Content Legislation
Separately, the ministers announced it would examine the legislation governing pornography to assess whether it is “fit for purpose” in the ever-developing online world.
“The review will investigate the effectiveness of the current law in relation to making illegal, among other things, damaging depictions of familial abuse and any types of pornography which promote the abuse of children,” said a justice minister.
Advocates Call For Tighter Online Controls
Campaigners for tighter control of adult content have called on the authorities to ban so-called “barely legal” material. This includes content featuring simulated familial abuse or that appears to promote abuse by using young-looking performers portraying children.
Suggested amendments to legislation seek to:
- Ban pornography where performers are mimicking children, often filmed 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.
- Introduce stricter regulation on familial abuse pornography, which studies suggests is often promoted by platform algorithms.
- Introduce additional restrictions on “nudification” technology, potentially making it an illegal act to own software designed to create non-consensual nude images.
- Create a new, independent regulatory body to conduct spot checks on adult platforms and respond to complaints of unlawful content.
The campaigners argue that these measures would ensure the safeguards that have existed for decades in the physical world finally are extended to the digital age.
