If flagged, users would face a prompt: prove your age, or allow a one-time geolocation to confirm you’re outside the UK.
According to the AVPA, this process is necessary because VPNs can mask users’ actual locations, allowing them to appear as though they are in countries where age verification laws do not apply. The association points to data showing a dramatic increase in VPN use around the time the UK’s new internet rules were enforced, suggesting people are using these tools to bypass restrictions.
This approach treats privacy tools as a form of defiance. Here, VPNs, once considered sensible and essential for online security, are being rebranded as suspicious.
Under the new logic, using a VPN could mean you are trying to break the rules. As the UK’s censorship machinery rolls out, AVPA wants to make sure even those trying to shield their data are pulled back into the system.
The justification is familiar: VPNs can hide user locations, letting people appear as though they are accessing the internet from places where the UK’s new rules do not apply. But rather than address the backlash driving VPN usage, AVPA is proposing a dragnet approach that monitors traffic patterns, assigns risk scores based on vague behavioral signals and then forces users to identify themselves or prove their physical location.
Privacy protections are being reclassified as regulatory gaps. VPNs, proxies and other location-masking tools are not illegal, but under the current model, platforms are discouraged from even mentioning them. And while Ofcom has stopped short of an outright ban, it has created a climate where using a VPN can make you a target for further scrutiny.....<<<Read More>>>...
