Field Notes

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VPN Trust Initiative

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The VPN Trust Initiative (VTI) is an industry program of the Internet Infrastructure Coalition (i2Coalition), formed in 2019 and launched publicly in September 2020, whose member VPN providers commit to a shared set of principles.1 Its five founding companies were NordVPN, Golden Frog (VyprVPN), ExpressVPN, Surfshark, and NetProtect (whose brands included IPVanish and StrongVPN).1 More recent VTI material names eVenture (hide.me) and Mysterium among members, and the current roster is published on the VTI site.2

What the principles bind

The VTI Principles, updated to a 2.0 version in 2022, cover five areas: security, privacy, advertising practices, disclosure and transparency, and social responsibility.3 Membership is by attestation: providers declare alignment and are eligible for the VPN Trust Seal, an accreditation the VTI relaunched in February 2026 as an annual re-accreditation program. This is self-regulation, not audit. The principles are a code of conduct the industry wrote for itself, and the seal certifies a provider’s stated adherence — which is why VTI membership cannot substitute for the independent verification that Privacy claim assurance treats as the top of the assurance ladder.

The research arm

The VTI also commissions research that enters policy debates. Its YouGov survey of 2,558 UK children aged 11–17, in field 5–22 June 2026, found that 14% had used a VPN in the past year and only 1.4% of all children surveyed had used one to “access content meant for people older than me.”4 That figure circulates in the UK debate over VPN restrictions and age verification, and No, it’s not age verification carries it with the attribution it requires: industry-commissioned research from a body whose members have a commercial interest in the policy outcome. The figure is consistent in direction with the independent DSIT/BMG study and the Childnet and Internet Matters research, which weakens — without eliminating — the conflict-of-interest discount.

  1. i2Coalition’s VTI page, on the 2019 formation and the five founding companies. ↩↩

  2. VTI members page; the roster is published as brand logos and changes over time. ↩

  3. The VTI Principles, the five principle areas and their 2022 update. ↩

  4. VTI announcement of the YouGov research, July 2026, with the 1.4% headline figure. ↩

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