Redazione RHC : 25 July 2025 15:24
Starting Friday, adults in the UK who try to access pornographywill have to prove they are over 18, under some of the strictest regulations in the world. The change means that, instead of having to provide age checkboxes that allow anyone to claim they’re 18 or older, viewers will have to submit IDs, facial scans to estimate age, and bank documents like credit card checks.
It’s unclear so far how exactly these changes will work,but porn websites like Pornhub and YouPorn have said they will abide by the rules. The rules are part of the UK’s new Online Safety Act, passed in 2023. It covers not only pornographic websites, but also social media platforms and aims to prevent online harassment.
British regulator Ofcom said the new rules are needed to create “a safer online life for people in the UK, especially children.” Websites like Reddit, social media platforms, and dating apps like Grindr have said they will implement age verification checks.
The regulator is ultimately leaving it up to the platforms to choose which age verification tools to use and has suggested checking banking information or online identity services. But checks like those for age verification will no longer apply. If websites fail to perform age checks, they could face fines of up to 18 million pounds (20 million euros) or 10 percent of their global turnover.
Many online platforms, such as Meta, which may ask users to upload a government-issued ID or take a video selfie, have stated that user data will be safe. Many websites have privacy terms and conditions that state that personal data will not be stored by the company. However, users will need to decide whether to trust the platforms and read the fine print carefully.
Since users outside the UK will not be subject to the same age checks, some users may be tempted to use a virtual private network (VPN) to pretend to access websites from a different country. It’s not yet clear how sites intend to prevent users from exploiting this potential loophole.
VPNs, in fact, are not only tools used to circumvent geographical restrictions on content, but also play a crucial role for more vulnerable groups such as political dissidents, journalists, and activists operating within authoritarian regimes. In those contexts, a VPN can represent the only means to bypass the walls of state censorship and communicate freely with the rest of the world, reducing the risk of surveillance and repression.
Precisely for this reason, the VPN market remains a thriving one that shows no signs of diminishing, fueled both by legitimate needs for the protection of privacy and freedom of information, and by the desire of ordinary users to circumvent limitations and increasingly stringent controls. In an increasingly fragmented and surveilled digital world, VPNs continue to thrive as one of the most sought-after tools for protecting privacy, circumventing censorship, and reclaiming a measure of online freedom.
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