The experts expected the increase, given that similar trends had been visible in other countries that had implemented the laws on age control. But how by debuting the new regulations on the age allowance, open internet supporters warn that the increase in the use of circumstances of circumstation in the United Kingdom is the last example of how a growing game of cats and mouse can develop between people who try to access online services and governments that try to respect the restrictions of content anonymously.
The online security law requires that websites that host porn content, self -injurious, suicides and eating disorders implement “highly effective” age controls for visitors to the United Kingdom. These checks may include the loading of an ID and selfie document for validation and analysis. And together with a greater demand for services such as VPN, which allow users to mask the basic indicators of their online physical position, people have also played with other creative solutions. In some cases, according to what reported, you can even use the video game Stranding of deathPhotographic mode To make a selfie of characters from the character Sam Porter Bridges and send it to access the content of the forum at the age of age.
For supporters of the law, there are progress to indicate. The communications regulator of the United Kingdom ofcom says that so far over 6,600 porn websites have introduced age checks. And the main social platforms such as Reddit, X and Bluesky have also added the verification of the age for the contents that are now limited in the United Kingdom or they are doing. Microsoft even started to launch Voluntary age checks for Xbox Users in the United Kingdom. But even if this movement is satisfactory for now, supporters of digital rights underline that the normalization of these mechanisms creates the possibility that they are more aggressive in the future.
“I think people just want to demonstrate that we can make some progress on this without thinking about what the consequences of progress will be,” says Daniel Kahn Gillmor, a senior technician of the staff of the American Civil Liberties Union. “We know that there are some things you can do to help children have a better relationship with digital tools. And that it implies having an adequate social support network; it implies listening when children have problems and make sure they have emotional relationships working with adults who can respond to them. But what we are looking for is a rapid technological solution and those technological corrections have consequences.”
Sehema Shah, vice -president of research and insights to the market sensor tower sensor company, says that five VPN apps have recorded in particular “explosive growth” e reached The 10 best free apps on the UK app Store of Apple by Monday.
“According to estimates of the sensor tower, iOS devices have seen a larger peak in the VPN downloads in the United Kingdom, since the downloads between the selected VPN apps are on average 100 % day on difal in the last four days on iOS compared to a 5 % daytime increase for Android devices,” says Shah.