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UK-based traffic to porn sites has since seen a decline Age verification became mandatory earlier this year, but the use of software to circumvent viewing restrictions has increased.
communication watchdog Ofcom Noted an intense and immediate Decline in visits to popular online porn sites According to its annual Online Nation Report, from July 25, when the Highly Effective Age Assurance (HEAA) came into effect.
pornhubThe company, the most watched adult content provider in the UK, saw its year-on-year figures fall by 1.5 million viewers when the regulator compared its 11.3 million viewers in August 2024 with 9.8 million in the same month this year.
Adult sites in the UK were forced to implement age assurance online security Government officials and the communications watchdog have claimed to have introduced measures that will help prevent children from viewing explicit material online.
Visitor numbers for the 10 most visited pornography services in the UK have fallen to “lower levels” than before July 25. In one month alone between July and August this year, pornhub According to the watchdog, unique visitors saw a 31 percent decline, while Pixabay saw a 28 percent decline and xvideos saw a 24 percent decline.
During this time, vpn (Virtual Private Network) usage in the UK has more than doubled following the age verification mandate, growing from around 650,000 daily users before July 25 to over 1.4 million in mid-August 2025. This figure has gradually declined to around 900,000 in November.
The watchdog has suggested that there has been a rise as well as a decline in visitor numbers vpn Usage, may be due to: “Visitors’ unwillingness or inability to complete age assurance checks”.
“The use of VPNs can provide additional privacy and security to users. They can also be used to access sites with geographic restrictions if the user is traveling from another country, allowing UK users to access pornography services without age restrictions.”
Critics such as Reform UK leaders Nigel Farage Claims were made that there were practical issues with the Online Protection Act, suggesting that children might be able to circumvent the rules by using VPNs to conceal their identity and location.
OfcomThe data does not show that the VPN uptick is more linked to younger people, or privacy-conscious adults who are trying to watch explicit content. But it follows research from Childnet last week, which found almost a quarter (24 per cent) of young people say they have started using VPNs in the last three months, which is in line with the number who started using them a year ago (21 per cent).
While the most popular reason kids cited for using the software was to protect online safety and privacy, 16 percent said they were using it to avoid parental controls, and 10 percent said they had used a VPN to watch things they shouldn’t have watched at their age. The research showed there was no increase in children using a VPN for the first time after age checks were introduced in July 2025.
According to the communications watchdog, the number of visitors to some adult sites such as Chaturbate has remained stable. Ofcom suggested this was because the site required token purchases to pay for and interact with private “cam” shows, so visitors “may already be accustomed to some degree of friction between themselves and paid adult content”.