Age Verification Act Sends VPNs Surge and Threatening Open Internet
After the UK Online Safety Law It came into effect on Friday, and porn platforms and other adult content sites have implemented user age verification mechanisms and requested the use of Virtual Private Network (VPN) And other evasion tools that surged in the UK over the weekend.
Given that similar trends are visible in other countries that implement age checks, experts were hoping for a surge in the years. but, A new wave of age check regulations will debutOpen Internet Advocates warns that the increasing use of evasion tools in the UK is the latest example of how escalating cat and mouse games can develop between people trying to access services online anonymously and governments seeking to enforce content restrictions.
Online Safety Act requires websites that host content on porn, self-harm, suicide, and eating disorders to implement “very effective” age checks for visitors from the UK. These checks include uploading ID documents and selfies for verification and analysis. It also plays alongside other creative workarounds, along with the increasing demand for services such as VPNs that allow users to mask basic indicators of physical locations online. In some cases, you reportedly can also use video games Death strategyPhoto mode of Take a selfie of the character Sam Porter Bridge and submit it to access the forum content that you’ve age-gate.
There are similar advances in support of the law. UK telecommunications regulator Ofcom says that over 6,600 porn websites have introduced age checks to date. Also, major social platforms such as Reddit, X, and Bluesky have added age verification for content currently restricted or doing so in the UK. Microsoft has begun deployment Xbox voluntary age check UK users. However, even if the move is satisfactory for now, digital rights advocates point out that normalizing such mechanisms will create a possibility that they will be implemented more proactively in the future.
“I think people want to show that they can make some progress in this without thinking about what the outcomes will be,” says Daniel Kahn Gilmore, senior staff engineer at the American Civil Liberties Union. “We know there are some things we can do to help children have a better relationship with digital tools, and that involves having the right social support network. It involves having problems and ensuring a functioning emotional relationship with adults who can accommodate them.
Sheemashar, vice president of research and insights at the market intelligence company Sensor Tower, says five VPN apps have experienced “explosive growth” in particular. I’ve reached it Top 10 free apps in Apple’s UK app store by Monday.
“According to Sensor Tower estimates, iOS devices have a larger VPN download spike in the UK. Downloads across selected VPN apps have averaged 100% increase over the last four days of iOS, a 5% increase in Android devices,” says Shah.