End well, this won't: UK commissioner suggests govt stops kids from using VPNs
Posted: Fri Aug 22, 2025 5:50 pm
https://www.theregister.com/2025/08/19/ ... govt_stop/
England's children's commissioner has urged the government to shut down one of the most obvious loopholes in its new age-blocking regime: kids firing up a VPN.
In a report published today, Dame Rachel de Souza said ministers should force VPN providers to build in "highly effective age assurance" to stop under-18s from dodging the Online Safety Act's restrictions. Without action, she warned, the government's long-awaited age verification rules risk being rendered "inadequate."
Her office's survey of 16- to 21-year-olds makes grim reading for lawmakers hoping the new regime would be watertight. The survey found that more young people said they had been exposed to pornography before the age of 18 than in 2023, when the Online Safety Act came into force. More than a quarter said that they’d first seen porn by age 11, while seven in ten had viewed it before hitting 18. The report comes less than a month after the UK switched on mandatory age checks for commercial porn sites.
