- Government report shows British children mainly use VPN to improve privacy
- Only a fifth of VPN users use this technology to bypass age verification
- Pretending to be older is the most common way to avoid age controls
As debate over possible restrictions on VPNs in the UK intensifies, a government report has cast doubt on whether such drastic measures are justified.
According to the study commissioned by the Department of Science, Innovation and Technology (DSIT), digital privacy is the main driver of VPN use among British children.
Unlocking content is the second most common motivation, with children using the tools to access specific apps and media from other countries.
Crucially, the desire to bypass mandatory age checks is much lower on the list, with only around a fifth of young VPN users actively using the software to evade age checks. This equates to only 7% of all British children using a VPN to access restricted platforms.
These findings challenge the narrative that restricting VPNs is vital to enforcing current age verification laws and the government’s proposal to ban under-16s from social media.
The government will share evidence from its public consultation on children’s online safety and VPNs this month.
In response to requests for comment, a DSIT spokesperson shared a press release confirming that “VPNs play a limited role in bypassing age control.”
“As platforms implement more robust age verification to comply with recently announced restrictions, many of the common routes used today to bypass age checks will become increasingly difficult,” they continued.
Children and VPN: what the DSIT report found
Following a national survey of more than 2,000 young people aged 11 to 17, BMG Research researchers found that familiarity with virtual private networks among British children is high.
58% of children surveyed reported that they are aware of the software, while about a quarter of all respondents admitted to having used a VPN in their life.
The underlying motivations of these young users seem to call into question the argument for stricter controls.
Among active VPN users, 30% say they use the software specifically to protect their online privacy. This aligns with warnings from digital rights advocates who argue that restricting VPN access could strip minors of vital safety tools.
And while young people use these apps to bypass content restrictions, the study shows that they are primarily interested in evading regional entertainment geoblocks or school network restrictions rather than maliciously circumventing age verification.
Bypassing age controls is fifth on the list of motivations. These findings mirror separate YouGov research commissioned by the VPN Trust Initiative, which revealed that just 1.4% of children surveyed use a VPN specifically to access platforms aimed at older demographics.
So how do children manage to bypass age controls?
It seems that British children have found much easier solutions to evade online controls than using a VPN.
More than half of the children surveyed admitted that they simply migrate to different platforms: 37% choose websites that lack age verification entirely and 34% opt for services known for applying weak and easily fooled controls.
Impersonating an adult remains the most common tactic, with approximately 63% of check evaders admitting to impersonating someone older.
Specifically, 45% do so by giving a false date of birth during self-declaration controls, while a notable minority (11%) uses that of their parents. or family identification data.
The findings follow a stark warning to Downing Street from a coalition of more than 20 tech companies and privacy groups, which urged policymakers to protect digital rights and ensure VPN tools remain unrestricted.
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