VTI consistently asserts that any legislation of VPN access or operations must be evidence-based, and we are actively engaged in several ongoing conversations around age verification requirements.
In our input to the UK Government’s “Growing up in an online world” consultation, we wrote, “Any approach should be evidence-based, proportionate, technically feasible, and mindful of
privacy and cybersecurity risks.”
We added that “[a]pproaches should remain proportionate, evidence-based, privacy-preserving, technically feasible, and focused on minimizing unnecessary collection of sensitive personal information.”
In terms of such evidence, a recent YouGov survey of British children found that those kids are not, in fact, using VPNs to bypass age restrictions in meaningful numbers.
Among the findings: just 1.4% of children surveyed had used a VPN to “access content meant for people older than me”, and only 4.9% of children surveyed said they had used a VPN for a broader range of circumvention behaviors (including accessing content meant for people older than them, to get around parental controls, or to access websites blocked at school).
Meanwhile, 61% of children who use VPNs said they had used them for privacy protection.
The survey also found that most UK kids are not using VPNs behind their parents backs: 65% of children who use VPNs had spoken to a parent or carer about VPNs, and 87% of children using a paid VPN service said it was paid for by a parent or carer.
Below is YouGov’s press release in its entirety.
New YouGov research finds VPNs are not widely used by children to avoid age checks
A survey of UK children casts serious doubt on claims VPNs risk undermining the Government’s proposed ban on under-16s using social media.
New YouGov research commissioned by the VPN Trust Initiative has found that only a tiny proportion of children are using VPNs to access age-restricted content.
The nationally representative survey of 2,558 UK children aged 11 to 17 found that only 14% of children had used a VPN at all in the past 12 months.
Only around 1% of children had used a VPN to “access content meant for people older than me”.
Five percent of children have used VPNs for any kind of circumvention behaviour – such as attempting to get around parental controls or to access websites blocked at school.
The new findings support similar research that has recently been conducted by Ofcom[i] – as well as studies from Internet Matters[ii] and ChildNet[iii] – all of which cast serious doubt on claims that VPNs will be used to circumvent online age restrictions.
Instead, the research found that many children use VPNs for legitimate privacy, security and access reasons. Among children who use VPNs, 61% said they had used them for privacy protection, including to protect their identity or location online, or to keep personal information private. Almost a third said they used a VPN to keep themselves safer online, including when using public Wi-Fi.
The research also suggests that children’s VPN use is generally known to, and supported by, their families. Among children who use VPNs, 65% said they had spoken to a parent or carer about VPNs, while 17% had spoken to another family member. Of those using a paid-for VPN, 87% said it was paid for by a parent or carer.
Parents also do not appear to see VPNs as a major online safety concern. Only 10% of parents selected “using a VPN to access inappropriate content” as one of their major worries about their child online.
Christian Dawson of the VPN Trust Initiative, said:
“Protecting children online is paramount. That is precisely why policy should be grounded in evidence. This research shows that very few children are using VPNs to access age-restricted content, directly challenging claims that VPNs are a significant driver of circumvention.
“Restricting VPNs would be a disproportionate response. It would do little to address the underlying risks children face online while undermining tools that millions of people rely on for privacy, security, and safety every day.
“VPNs help protect families, businesses, journalists, activists, and ordinary users from cybercrime, profiling, surveillance, and other online threats. Policymakers should focus on evidence-based approaches that address harms at their source rather than restricting technologies that play an important role in keeping people safe online.”
The research comes as the Government considers further measures relating to children’s online safety and social media access.
Evidence from the introduction of similar restrictions in Australia shows that by far the biggest contributor to circumvention by young people was a failure by platforms themselves to properly challenge their users. A study from the University of Newcastle found that children attempted to use VPNs to circumvent controls in only 2-3% of cases.[iv]
The VPN Trust Initiative is calling on policymakers to ensure that any future measures are proportionate, targeted and evidence-led, and do not undermine the legitimate use of VPNs for privacy, cyber security and online safety.