In the United Kingdom, traffic to major adult websites has plunged since the implementation of mandatory age checks for online pornography under the Online Safety Act 2023, which came into effect on 25 July 2025. According to data from analytics firms, daily visits by UK users to platforms such as Pornhub dropped by around 47 per cent between 24 July and 8 August. The operator behind Pornhub has claimed a larger figure for the cumulative drop — approximately 77 per cent — though this figure has not been independently corroborated in full.
The age-verification requirement mandates that UK visitors to adult websites prove they are over 18 via methods such as photo identification, credit-card checks, or biometric/age-estimation processes. The regulator Ofcom is overseeing compliance and has warned that non-compliant services may face enforcement action, including significant fines.
Industry analysts and child-safety advocates say the sharp decline in traffic to traditionally dominant adult sites likely reflects a combination of factors: genuine reduction of UK‐based users, increased use of virtual private networks (VPNs) to bypass jurisdictional age-checks, and migration by users to smaller or less regulated platforms. Indeed, UK downloads of VPN apps surged following enforcement of the rules. Child-protection organisations have welcomed the move as an important step to shield minors from easily encountering harmful material online, while critics warn that the trade-offs include privacy risks, the potential shift of user behaviour into harder-to-monitor corners of the internet, and burdens placed on adult users.
While these early results suggest the UK’s approach is having a measurable effect on mainstream adult site traffic, the longer-term picture remains unclear. Will the decline endure, or will users adapt (via VPNs or alternate sites)? Will smaller non-compliant sites grow and offset the drop? Will the privacy and regulatory costs raise new concerns? Ofcom has begun investigations into several companies for compliance and is expected to publish more comprehensive assessments in the coming months.
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