When the UK switched on age verification under the Online Safety Act last July, the immediate response from a significant share of users was evasion rather than consent. Reddit discussions about bypass techniques jumped 460% in August 2025 — the month the rules took effect — and UK VPN downloads hit more than two million that same month.
A Cybernews analysis tracking Reddit discussions between May 2025 and April 2026, alongside UK VPN download figures, found the August spike was not a curiosity moment. Monthly VPN downloads in the UK mostly remained above one million after the law came into effect, pointing to a sustained behavioural shift.
The pattern exposes a design problem. Age verification as currently implemented typically requires users to upload government ID or submit to facial recognition — the same data-exposure risk that many privacy-conscious users say they are unwilling to accept. The result is that the tool meant to enforce the law is simultaneously fuelling demand for tools that circumvent it.
Aras Nazarovas, Senior Information Security Researcher at Cybernews, said: "It looks like age verification laws are not stopping determined users from accessing restricted content. And it's not just kids — many privacy-conscious users simply do not want to share sensitive personal data online, as age verification often requires uploading an ID or doing a facial scan. As long as these methods remain so privacy-invasive while bypass techniques remain widely accessible, these laws are unlikely to achieve their intended effect."
"It looks like age verification laws are not stopping determined users from accessing restricted content. And it's not just kids – many privacy-conscious users simply do not want to share sensitive personal data online, as age verification often requires uploading an ID or doing a facial scan. As long as these methods remain so privacy-invasive while bypass techniques remain widely accessible, these laws are unlikely to achieve their intended effect"
The Cybernews study covered Reddit discussions and VPN download trends across the 12 months following the Online Safety Act's age-gating provisions coming into force.
