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UK’s Online Safety Act Sends VPN Sign-Ups Soaring and Draws Legal Challenges

Millions of daily age-verification checks have prompted privacy advocates to challenge the Online Safety Act in the High Court.

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A boy participates in an online lesson for his kindergarten class while schools remain closed to help slow the spread of COVID-19, in Chicago, Ill., on April 3, 2020.
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Overview

  • Major platforms including Pornhub, Spotify, Reddit, X, and Discord now run millions of daily age-verification checks that block some non-pornographic content.
  • VPN firms such as Proton VPN and NordVPN report record user sign-ups as internet users look for ways to circumvent identity checks.
  • The Wikimedia Foundation has filed a High Court challenge after a judge classified Wikipedia as a “category one” service subject to identity verification.
  • Ofcom has opened formal investigations into platform compliance and data-security practices after warnings about centralized storage of sensitive personal information.
  • US politicians including Vice President JD Vance and Representatives Jim Jordan and Marsha Blackburn have criticized the law for threatening free expression and American tech companies.