The use of a VPN service should not be an obstacle to effectively apply compulsory age check controls, such as those recently implemented in the United Kingdom.
This is the answer from the Age Verification Providers Association (AVPA) to the sharp increase in the request for VPN through the United Kingdom since the entry. The overvoltage has also raised the question of whether the VPN tools would make the implementation of the law on online security ineffective.
According to AVPA, to remain in conformity, digital services must actively detect the use of VPNs and give users the possibility of proving their age or real location.
“No need to consider banning VPNs”
“Some support that because VPNs exist, any age insurance system will fail. Blog article.
AVPA suggests that once the VPN traffic is detected, technology suppliers should examine behavioral clues to assess whether the user is a minor based in the United Kingdom or an adult using VPN for confidentiality. If they have reasons to believe that it could be a minor based in the United Kingdom, they should offer a choice to verify their age or consent to punctual geolocation.
That said, the most reliable services to unlock streaming platforms or censored content all implement obscure technologies to hide the fact that people use these services.
Overall, however, “there are ways to detect and treat bypass, and it is not even necessary to envisage to prohibit VPN,” said AVPA experts.
Digital services using age insurance to stay in conformity can do so by detecting the use of VPNs, by evaluating risks using behavioral indices and giving reported users the possibility of checking their age or proving their location. @Peterkyle @feryleclark @ofcom pic.twitter.com/lpbimivkvuAugust 10, 2025
AVPA recommendations occurred after a debate at the UK starting to find out if the authorities could prohibit VPN to ensure full compliance with the online security law.
The British Secretary of State for Sciences, Innovation and Technology, Peter Kyle, however insisted that there are no such plans, despite the fact that the government has “very closely” the way VPNs are used.
This adds to the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) explained during the discussion of the risk of confidentiality of the laws of verification of the American age.
As the EFF experts have underlined it, your IP address is not the only method that online services use to find your location. Suppliers can also use GPS follow -up, web cookies, mobile ad users, pixel monitoring or the fingerprint of the device, making use of VPNs much less efficient.
What is behind the overvoltage of the British VPN?
A Virtual Private Network (VPN) Les connections Internet while usurping the real user’s IP address.
Although these two skills can help you increase your confidentiality and your online safety by minimizing the data traces you leave around the Internet, the usurpation of the IP can also give you the impression of browsing a completely different country.
Proton VPN recorded an hourly increase of more than 1,400% from midnight the day when the compulsory age verification was applied. Adguard VPN has also confirmed to Techradar that registrations have increased by 2.5 times in just a few days. TOP10VPN data also shows an increase in VPN demand of almost 2,000% since July 25.
Whether minors who seek to escape age controls are behind these figures are or that adults concerning their privacy are impossible to know.
What is certain, however, is that the new rules have so far attracted a strong reaction among technologists, politicians and everyday users, worried about the negative impact that age checks can have on their privacy, their security, their freedom of expression and their access to information.
The British regulator, OFCOM, is nevertheless strongly suggested against the use of VPN to circumvent age controls, arguing that it will be illegal for platforms to encourage this – the BBC has reported.
If you are anxious to share your most sensitive data to access the content on the web, I recommend downloading only reliable services to protect you. At the time of writing the editorial time, NordVPN is the first choice of Techradar. While if you do not want to pay for a subscription, Proton VPN and Privado VPN are the best free VPN applications today that you can get.
