Age verification measures reduce UK porn traffic, VPN use spiked but now falling
10/12/2025 | The Guardian
Traffic to pornography websites in the UK has declined significantly following the implementation of age verification checks required by the Online Safety Act 2023 (OSA), which came into effect on 25 July. Ofcom reported that visits to major sites, particularly Pornhub, decreased sharply, with August figures showing 9.8 million visitors, down 1.5 million from the previous year. Visitor numbers across the ten most popular adult sites have settled at lower levels since the checks were enforced. Data reveals that unique visitors to Pornhub dropped to 7.2 million last month, reflecting a 36% decrease since August 2024, with similar declines seen on Xvideos and Chaturbate.
In contrast, the use of virtual private networks (VPNs) has surged from 650,000 to over 1.4 million shortly after the checks were introduced, though current users now number around 900,000, indicating a steady decline since August.
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