British Adult Content Site Visits Declines After Identity Verifications, But VPN Use Spikes, States Regulator

Access to adult content websites in the United Kingdom has fallen significantly after the introduction of mandatory age verification earlier this year, according to the nation's communications authority. At the same time, the usage of tools designed to circumvent these restrictions has risen.

Immediate Fall in Visitor Figures Following Law Implementation

The introduction of age verification on 25 July caused an swift reduction in visits to popular online adult platforms, such as the most visited site in the UK. Figures indicates that visitor numbers to this platform in August reached 9.8 million, a decrease of 1.5 million compared to the equivalent month in 2024.

Overall, visitor numbers to the 10 most-visited adult services in the UK have now settled at a markedly decreased volume than before the end-of-July implementation date. Subsequent data indicates this downward trend in site visits continued beyond August.

Sharp Increase in VPN Adoption to Bypass Restrictions

In response to the new rules, adoption of Virtual Private Networks (VPNs)—which can get around geographic restrictions by routing internet traffic via another nation—more than doubled after 25 July.

User numbers reached a high at more than 1.4 million in the middle of August, up from approximately 650,000 people before the checks were introduced. Subsequently, the watchdog noted that VPN usage has since fallen back, with current numbers standing at approximately 900,000. It clarified that the level of daily VPN use is “much lower” than user numbers for adult services.

Young People Taking Action to Damaging Online Content

Elsewhere, the watchdog's report revealed that about 60% of young people aged 11 to 17 had acted after encountering damaging content on the internet. Actions ranged from flagging the material to the site to muting the person who shared it.

This research was carried out prior to new rules took effect that compel platforms to prevent children from accessing dangerous content, such as material related to suicide and pornography. The most common way young people came across such content was by looking through a platform feed, suggesting that recommendation systems were showing inappropriate material.

Government Announce Examination of Pornography Legislation

Separately, the ministers announced it would examine the legislation relating to pornography to assess whether it is adequate in the modern online world.

“The examination will investigate the efficacy of the current law in regarding making illegal, for example, harmful depictions of familial abuse and any types of pornography which encourage the abuse of children,” said a government official.

Campaigners Call For Stricter Online Regulations

Campaigners for tighter control of online pornography have urged the authorities to outlaw so-called “barely legal” material. This includes content featuring incest scenes or that encourages child sexual abuse by using young-looking adults portraying children.

Suggested changes to government bills seek to:

• Ban pornography where performers are impersonating children, sometimes filmed in environments like children’s bedrooms.
• Broaden the offence of making an indecent image of a child to include material where an older performer acts the part of a child.
• Apply stricter controls on familial abuse pornography, which research suggests is often promoted by platform algorithms.
• Introduce further controls on “nudification” technology, potentially making it an illegal act to own tools designed to create non-consensual nude images.
• Establish a new, independent regulatory body to conduct inspections on adult platforms and respond to complaints of illegal content.

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