UK's Plan to Protect Children Online Is Backfiring: More Kids Are Using VPNs to Get Around It

The UK government is trying to make the internet safer for children by requiring websites and apps to check users' ages before letting them in. But the plan is having an unexpected problem: teenagers are downloading VPN apps at record rates to hide their location and bypass these age checks.

A research report published in May 2026 found that websites and apps are now running five million age verification checks every single day in the UK, according to Ofcom research. While that shows the new rules are working, it also shows they are creating friction. In mid-2025, VPN apps shot to the top of the UK App Store charts as people looked for ways around the age gates, according to BBC reporting.

A VPN is a tool that masks your location and hides what you are doing online. Adults use them for legitimate reasons — protecting privacy on public WiFi, for instance. But when age controls make it harder to reach content, some users install them to get around the barrier instead.

What the Government Is Trying to Do

The UK is stacking new rules on top of each other. In January 2026, the government told Parliament it was considering banning social media for under-16s entirely. A day later, it announced plans to restrict addictive features in apps and social media — things like endless-scroll feeds and notifications timed to pull you back in at the moment you are most likely to engage.

By March 2026, these ideas became part of a major public consultation that covered social media, gaming platforms, and AI chatbots all at once. The inclusion of AI chatbots was notable: it shows the government recognizes that conversational AI has moved from a novelty to something many young people now use regularly.

At the heart of all this is Ofcom's age assurance guidance, which sets out what platforms must do to keep age-restricted content away from children. That guidance also says platforms must not let people post instructions on how to use VPNs to get around the age checks. Ofcom's position, reported by the BBC, is clear on this point.

The Bypass Problem

Here is the core problem: a platform can block instructions about VPNs, but it cannot control the VPN itself. The government knows this. A spokesperson confirmed in August 2025 that VPNs are legal for adults and there are no plans to ban them. That makes sense from a privacy perspective — adults do need tools to protect their data online. But it also means that any age gate can be bypassed by anyone with a smartphone and a few minutes.

We have seen this pattern before. When streaming services started blocking access by location, people used VPNs to watch shows in other countries. Every country that has tried to restrict access to certain kinds of online content has run into the same problem: motivated users find tools to get around it. What is different in the UK now is who is doing it. The age controls are meant to protect teenagers. The concern is that teenagers are installing free VPN apps by the millions.

That matters. Security experts have found real dangers in free VPN apps — some harvest your data, some keep logs of where you go online, and some even deliver malware. A policy designed to protect children from harmful content might accidentally push some of those same young people toward tools that carry their own risks. That is not a reason to drop age checks entirely, but it is a real consequence that the government and Ofcom will need to think through carefully as they enforce these rules.

What Happens Now

The consultation included AI chatbots deliberately. It signals that the government wants to get ahead of the next wave of apps that children will use, rather than always playing catch-up — as it did with social media throughout the 2010s. Whether the consultation turns into actual law, and when that happens, depends on Parliament and how hard technology companies push back, which historically has been fierce.

The five million daily age checks tell us the system is running. The VPN chart position tells us it is not running smoothly. Ofcom and the government now face a real challenge: how to make age controls work without driving young people toward unvetted tools that might harm them instead.

This is not a new technical problem. Age checks have been possible for years. What has changed is the political will and legal framework to require them. The UK is further ahead than most countries on this. Over the next year, we will learn whether teenagers stop using VPNs as the novelty wears off, or whether circumventing age gates becomes the normal way young people use the internet.