Field Notes

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No, it’s not age verification

privacy is the top reason UK children use a VPN

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A TechRadar news article by Chiara Castro, published 14 July 2026. The preserved copy is the rendered snapshot with its .raw.html provenance companion.

The article reports Children’s circumvention behaviours online, the DSIT-commissioned BMG Research study, against the policy narrative that restricting VPNs is needed to enforce age verification and the proposed under-16 social media ban. Its headline finding: privacy, not age-check evasion, is the most common reason British children give for using a VPN.

Details as reported:

  • 58% of children surveyed had heard of VPNs and about a quarter had used one.
  • Among VPN users, 30% cited securing their privacy; bypassing age checks ranked fifth among motivations, at about a fifth of VPN users, equating to 7% of all children.
  • Children’s circumvention targets are mainly entertainment geoblocks and school network restrictions.
  • Over half of children migrate to other platforms when they meet a check: 37% choose sites with no age verification and 34% choose services with easily tricked checks.
  • Posing as an adult is the most common bypass tactic (63%), led by a false date of birth (45%); 11% use a parent’s or relative’s identification details.

The article adds two pieces of surrounding evidence. Separate YouGov research commissioned by the VPN Trust Initiative found only 1.4% of surveyed minors used a VPN specifically to reach age-restricted platforms. And a coalition of more than 20 technology firms and privacy advocacy groups had warned Downing Street to keep VPN tools unrestricted.

We decided not to limit VPNs reports the government’s policy response to the same study, announced the next day. The findings feed into Age-verification circumvention services and corroborate the Internet Matters Online Safety Act report.

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