UK Pornography Site Visits Declines Following Identity Verifications, Yet Virtual Private Network Usage Spikes, States Watchdog

Access to pornography sites in the United Kingdom has fallen significantly after the introduction of mandatory age verification earlier this year, as reported by the nation's communications regulator. At the same time, the usage of specialist software designed to bypass these barriers has risen.

Immediate Drop in User Figures Following Law Enforcement

The enforcement of age verification on 25 July caused an immediate decline in traffic to popular online adult platforms, including the most visited provider in the UK. Figures indicates that visitor numbers to this site in August stood at 9.8 million, a decrease of 1.5 million from the same period in 2024.

Overall, visitor numbers to the ten top pornography sites in the UK have now settled at a markedly decreased volume than prior to the end-of-July implementation date. Subsequent data indicates this downward trend in site visits persisted beyond August.

Sharp Increase in VPN Usage to Evade Restrictions

Reacting to the new regulations, use of VPN software—which can get around location-based restrictions by routing connections via another nation—more than doubled after 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 checks were introduced. Subsequently, the regulator stated that VPN usage has since decreased, with current numbers at approximately 900,000. It clarified that the volume of daily VPN use remains “much lower” than traffic for adult services.

Young People Responding to Harmful Material

In other findings, the regulator's annual study 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 user who posted it.

This research was carried out prior to new rules took effect that compel social media companies to prevent children from accessing dangerous content, including material related to self-harm and adult material. The most common way teenagers came across such content was by looking through a platform timeline, indicating that algorithms were serving harmful material.

Ministers Announce Review of Adult Content Legislation

Separately, the ministers announced it would examine the criminal law relating to pornography to consider whether it is effective in the modern digital age.

“The examination will look into the efficacy of the existing law in relation to criminalising, among other things, harmful portrayals of incest and any types of pornography which encourage child sexual abuse,” said a justice minister.

Campaigners Call For Tighter Online Regulations

Campaigners for better regulation of online pornography have urged the government to outlaw so-called “barely legal” material. This encompasses content featuring simulated familial abuse or that appears to promote child sexual abuse by casting youthful performers dressed as children.

Suggested changes to government bills seek to:

• Ban pornography where performers are mimicking children, often recorded in environments like children’s bedrooms.
• Extend the crime of making an exploitative portrayal of a child to include material where an adult plays the role of a child.
• Apply tighter controls on familial abuse pornography, which studies indicates is heavily recommended by site algorithms.
• Add further controls on “nudification” software, potentially making it an illegal act to possess tools designed to create private images without permission.
• Establish a new, separate oversight agency 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 in the physical world finally apply to the digital age.