New research from Childnet shows that the ‘surge’ in VPN use following the introduction of age verification in the summer is not attributable to children

UK — Civil Society · 2025-12-01 · UK · verified record

Themes: Child safety & minors · Online platforms · Search services

Ecosystems: UK Online Safety Act

Groundbreaking research launched today by Childnet, a partner in the UK Safer Internet Centre, together with Nominet, looks at young people’s use of VPNs. This data found that although the widely reported spike in VPN use in July has often been linked to the enforcement of the Online Safety Act (OSA) age verification requirements on online pornography providers, this spike cannot be attributed to children. The research found that: - 23% of young people said they started using VPNs in the last three months, this is consistent with the number who started using VPNs 1 year (21%) ago - The most po

Groundbreaking research launched today by Childnet, a partner in the UK Safer Internet Centre, together with Nominet, looks at young people’s use of VPNs. This data found that although the widely reported spike in VPN use in July has often been linked to the enforcement of the Online Safety Act (OSA

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