The UK is witnessing a spike in the usage of VPN following the implementation of new age verification rules aimed at protecting children online.
To comply with the Online Safety Act that rolled out in Britain, the popular social media apps including TikTok, X (formerly Twitter), Reddit and thousands of sites offering adult content, have introduced new “age assurance” systems to counter the anathema of child abuse.
Starting this weekend, media regulator of UK Office of Communications (Ofcom) has also planned to enforce the new age checks, designed to prevent children under the age of 18 from accessing the sites that carry harmful material that relates to pornography, self-harm or suicide.
Unfortunately, the government's efforts to protect the children have been endangered by the growing use of VPN services to evade the stringent rules and internet censorship.
According to Apple's latest ranking, applications that offer virtual private networks, known for disguising the user’s location, made up half of the top 10 most popular free apps on the UK’s App Store for iOS this weekend.
Moreover, Proton, the Swiss-based company, has surpassed ChatGPT and become the top free app in the UK. It has experienced a more than 1800 percent spike in VPN’s daily sign-ups.
In addition to Proton’s VPN boom, other service developers like Super Unlimited and Nord Security saw a rise over the weekend. According to Nord, there was 1000 percent increase in UK purchases of VPN subscriptions even before the implementation of rules.
“We would normally associate these large spikes in sign-ups with major civil unrest. This clearly shows that adults are concerned about the impact universal age verification laws will have on their privacy,” Proton said.
Moreover, data from Google Trends also exhibits a prominent increase in search queries for VPNs in the UK, with up to 10 times more people looking for VPNs at peak times.
The UK is one of the first democratic countries in the world to enforce such stringent content rules over the tech companies.
This paradigm shift suggests that Britons are seeking a new digital escape route through these VPN services.
Undoubtedly, the Online Safety Act is driving the UK towards VPN adoption. But this is not bereft of the potential impacts. The excessive use of these services can threaten the efficacy of the online rules, aiming at protecting the youth from the treacherous side of digital media.
Ofcom further explained that “Age checks were not a silver bullet. Until now, kids could easily stumble across porn and other online content that’s harmful to them without even looking for it.”
“We are assessing compliance to make sure platforms have them in place, and companies that fall short should expect to face enforcement action,” they added.
