The Children’s Commissioner for England has called on the government to close a loophole allowing children to use virtual private networks (VPNs) to access online porn without age verification.
Dame Rachel de Souza, speaking on BBC Newsnight, stressed how VPNs let users hide their location online, making it possible for young people to get around the new Online Safety Act rules requiring age checks on adult content sites. VPNs connect through remote servers and mask IP addresses, so children can trick websites into thinking they are in a different country where controls may be weaker.
The commissioner’s latest report shows a rise in the number of children exposed to pornography in the last two years. Alarmingly, some young people surveyed said they first saw porn as early as six years old, often by accident. The report also raised concerns about harmful content, with many respondents exposed to violent or abusive scenes, such as strangulation or non-consensual acts.
Dame Rachel urged ministers to require VPN providers to enforce age verification to protect underage users. “It’s absolutely a loophole that needs closing,” she said, adding that the online landscape’s design and recommendation algorithms often push harmful material in front of children.
The government said VPNs remain legal for adults, and while there are no plans to ban them, companies promoting ways to bypass protections to minors will face strict penalties.
Kerry Smith, CEO of the Internet Watch Foundation, warned that children’s exposure to violent sexual content risks normalising harmful behaviour and increasing sexual violence against women.
The Online Safety Act, implemented recently, aims to make the internet safer by demanding robust age checks for adult websites. This new focus comes as VPN apps surged to the top of the UK’s download charts after some sites began enforcing verification.
The report’s findings serve as a serious wake-up call. They show that tech laws need constant updates to keep pace with tricks like VPN use that undermine child protection online.
