British Pornography Traffic Declines After Age Checks, But Virtual Private Network Usage Spikes, Reports Watchdog

Traffic to pornography platforms in the UK has decreased markedly since the roll-out of mandatory age verification earlier this year, according to the nation's communications authority. Concurrently, the usage of tools designed to circumvent these blocks has risen.

Sharp Drop in User Figures After Law Implementation

The enforcement of age vetting on 25 July led to an swift decline in traffic to popular pornography sites, including the most visited provider in the UK. Data reveals that user traffic to this site in August were 9.8 million, a decline of 1.5 million from the same period in 2024.

Overall, traffic to the ten top pornography sites in the UK have now stabilized at a “lower level” than before the late July implementation date. Subsequent data suggests this downward trend in site visits persisted beyond August.

Surge in Virtual Private Network Usage to Bypass Restrictions

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

Usage reached a high at over 1.4 million in mid-August, rising from around 650,000 people prior to the checks were introduced. Subsequently, the watchdog noted that VPN usage has afterwards steadily declined, with latest figures standing at around 900,000. It added that the level of regular VPN use is “much lower” than user numbers for adult services.

Teenagers Taking Action to Damaging Online Content

In other findings, the watchdog's report revealed that about 60% of teenagers aged 11 to 17 had acted after seeing distressing content online. Steps taken ranged from reporting the material to the platform to blocking the person who posted it.

This research was carried out prior to new rules took effect that compel platforms to stop children from accessing harmful content, including material related to self-harm and adult material. The most common way teenagers encountered such content was by looking through a platform feed, indicating that algorithms were serving inappropriate material.

Government Launch Examination of Adult Content Legislation

In a related development, the ministers announced it would examine the criminal law relating to pornography to assess whether it is adequate in the ever-developing online world.

“The examination will investigate the efficacy of the current law in regarding making illegal, for example, damaging portrayals of familial abuse and any forms of pornography which encourage child sexual abuse,” said a government official.

Campaigners Push For Stricter Online Regulations

Campaigners for tighter regulation of adult content have urged the authorities to outlaw so-called “barely legal” material. This includes content featuring incest scenes or that appears to promote child sexual abuse by using youthful performers portraying children.

Proposed amendments to government bills seek to:

• Ban pornography where performers are mimicking children, sometimes recorded in settings like children’s bedrooms.
• Extend the offence of creating an indecent image of a child to cover material where an adult acts the part of a child.
• Introduce tighter controls on familial abuse pornography, which research suggests is heavily recommended by site algorithms.
• Introduce additional restrictions on “nudification” technology, potentially making it an offence to possess software designed to generate private images without permission.
• Create a new, separate oversight agency to perform spot checks on pornography sites and respond to complaints of unlawful content.

The advocates contend that these steps would ensure the protections that have been enforced for years offline finally apply to the online sphere.