{"id":12478,"date":"2025-07-29T18:12:19","date_gmt":"2025-07-29T18:12:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/usaontheweb.com\/clone1\/proton-vpn-rises-to-top-uk-app-charts-as-porn-age-checks-kick-in\/"},"modified":"2025-07-29T18:12:19","modified_gmt":"2025-07-29T18:12:19","slug":"proton-vpn-rises-to-top-uk-app-charts-as-porn-age-checks-kick-in","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/usaontheweb.com\/clone1\/proton-vpn-rises-to-top-uk-app-charts-as-porn-age-checks-kick-in\/","title":{"rendered":"Proton VPN rises to top UK app charts as porn age checks kick in"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Proton VPN has become the UK\u2019s most downloaded free app, as Britons rush to bypass a new law requiring users to verify their age before accessing websites hosting adult content.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Proton VPN reported a staggering 1,400% surge in UK sign-ups almost immediately after the Online Safety Act came into effect. It is now Britain\u2019s most downloaded free app, overtaking ChatGPT, according to Apple\u2019s App Store rankings.<\/span><\/p>\n

The Switzerland-based virtual private network (VPN) said in a <\/span>post on X<\/span> that the surge in interest has been \u201csustained.\u201d This contrasts with recent short-term spikes, such as when people in France temporarily lost access to adult sites like Pornhub and RedTube last month due to new legislation.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The surge in downloads follows the UK government\u2019s rollout of the Online Safety Act, which came into effect after midnight on Friday, July 25. The law requires websites such as Pornhub, Reddit, and TikTok to implement strict age verification measures, including uploading an official ID or using third-party identity checks.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The act is an attempt to protect minors from accessing harmful or adult content online. However, VPNs provide a relatively easy way to circumvent the new law. By masking a user\u2019s location, they can make it appear as if internet users are accessing the web from outside the UK, where the new law doesn\u2019t apply.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

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Ofcom, the UK\u2019s communications regulator, has warned against using VPNs to sidestep the new rules. <\/span>Meanwhile, Katie Freeman-Tayler of children\u2019s safety group Internet Matters has raised concerns about how easily children can access VPNs.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis makes it easy for them to circumvent important protections introduced under the Online Safety Act, such as age checks designed to shield them from adult content,\u201d she told <\/span>the BBC<\/span>.<\/span><\/p>\n

Proton isn\u2019t the only company benefiting from the new law. Of the top ten free apps in Apple\u2019s UK ranking, six are currently VPN services. They include Yoti, NordVPN, and Free VPN.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWe would normally associate these large spikes in sign-ups with major civil unrest,\u201d Proton said in a statement. \u201cThis clearly shows that adults are concerned about the impact universal age verification laws will have on their privacy.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Proton and other tech firms have previously <\/span>criticised<\/span> aspects of the Online Safety Act, warning the law could erode user privacy by forcing companies to scan private messages or break end-to-end encryption.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Criticism has also come from political quarters. Nigel Farage, leader of right-wing political party Reform UK, <\/span>pledged<\/span> this week to repeal the rules, labelling them \u201cauthoritarian\u201d and a threat to free speech. A separate <\/span>petition<\/span> to overturn the Online Safety Act has racked up over 350,000 signatures, triggering a parliamentary review.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Growing demand for VPNs, meanwhile, has sparked fears that the government could ban the services. Security experts, however, have downplayed the concerns. \u201cThe UK won\u2019t ban VPNs,\u201d Jake Moore, global cybersecurity advisor at Slovakian software firm ESET, <\/span>said on X<\/span>. \u201cIt would be nearly impossible, and it would dramatically disrupt legitimate use.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Proton VPN has become the UK\u2019s most downloaded free app, as Britons rush to bypass a new law requiring users<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7282,"featured_media":12479,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1166],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-12478","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-website"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/usaontheweb.com\/clone1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12478","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/usaontheweb.com\/clone1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/usaontheweb.com\/clone1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usaontheweb.com\/clone1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7282"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usaontheweb.com\/clone1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12478"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/usaontheweb.com\/clone1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12478\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usaontheweb.com\/clone1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/12479"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/usaontheweb.com\/clone1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12478"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usaontheweb.com\/clone1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12478"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usaontheweb.com\/clone1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12478"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}