- Italy is set to impose mandatory age verification on November 12, 2025.
- Adult content websites must prove that their users are at least 18 years old.
- These websites are prohibited from promoting VPNs to bypass age checks
In less than 24 hours, Italians will be forced to prove they are at least 18 years old every time they want to access websites hosting adult content.
Italy joins France, the United Kingdom and several US states in imposing mandatory age verification to protect minors from harmful content online.
The country’s communications authority, AGCOM, says its system was built on a “double anonymity” model to protect people’s privacy. Still, age checks have raised concerns among privacy-conscious users around the world and often caused a surge in demand for the best VPN apps.
VPNs and other evasion tools have become a quick way to circumvent the new rules, fueling debates over whether governments should block VPNs altogether.
In the UK, communications regulator Ofcom confirmed to TechRadar that it is actively monitoring VPN usage with an anonymous third-party tool. While two US states – Wisconsin and Michigan – are considering introducing a requirement to block VPN traffic.
There are currently no restrictions on using a VPN to circumvent Italy’s age verification law and it appears that some have already started researching the most secure VPNs for age checks.
However, websites are required to verify the age of users and are also prohibited from promoting VPNs as a way to circumvent age checks.
How Italian age verification rules affect VPN use
According to the provisions of AGCOM, the only obligation regarding VPNs applies to all “entities required by law to implement the age verification system”. Simply put, websites displaying adult content.
The list of websites, which AGCOM should continue to complete, “must not promote or refer to any mechanism to circumvent age guarantee schemes”.
All this means that Italians won’t be blocked from accessing adult websites when using a VPN – at least for now.
If you are looking to get a new VPN app, we strongly suggest you stay away from dangerous free VPNs and only download apps that have been thoroughly reviewed and tested.
There are a handful of free VPN apps that we recommend using, including Proton VPN Free and PrivadoVPN Free, but some great premium services have already dropped their prices with these limited-time Black Friday VPN deals.
We test and review VPN services in the context of legal recreational uses. For example: 1. Access a service from another country (subject to the terms and conditions of that service). 2. Protect your online security and strengthen your online privacy abroad. We do not support or approve the use of a VPN service to break the law or conduct illegal activities. Consumption of paid pirated content is not endorsed or endorsed by Future Publishing.
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