A VPN is seeing a 1,400% spike in signups as the UK's age verification law

New age checks for websites with explicit content continue to send users flocking to Proton VPN.

The popular virtual private network (VPN) is reporting a 1,400 percent hourly increase in signups over its baseline so far on Friday, July 25, the day the UK's age verification law goes into effect. This is according to an Observatory page on the Proton VPN website that tracks such usage jumps.

Under the UK's Online Safety Act, sites and apps with explicit content must now verify visitors' ages via methods such as facial recognition and banking info, per Mashable associate editor Anna Iovine, with the goal of preventing minors from accessing the content. The law applies to adult sites like Pornhub as well as dating apps like Tinder and Hinge. The UK communications regulator Ofcom began enforcing it at midnight BST Friday.

Proton VPN previously documented a 1,000 percent surge in new subscribers in June after Pornhub left France, its second-biggest market, amid the enactment of an age verification law there. Later that month, Pornhub's parent company, Aylo, told Mashable in a statement that it agreed to comply with the UK's counterpart.

A Proton VPN spokesperson told Mashable that it saw an increase in new subscribers right away at midnight Friday, then again at 9 a.m. BST. The company anticipates further surges over the weekend, they added.

"This clearly shows that adults are concerned about the impact universal age verification laws will have on their privacy," the spokesperson said.

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Proton VPN shared additional context on X, noting that "Unlike previous surges, this one is sustained, and is significantly higher than when France lost access to adult content. .... We would normally associate these large spikes in sign-ups with major civil unrest."

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Search interest for the term "Proton VPN" also saw a seven-day spike in the UK around 2 a.m. BST Friday, according to a Google Trends chart. Proton VPN shared a screenshot of the chart on X, writing, "Pretty sure it's not the footy this time..."

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A VPN is a service that routes the user's traffic through an encrypted tunnel to a remote server before sending it out onto the web, a process that masks their real IP address and hides their browsing activities from third parties. While not their main purpose, VPNs are also commonly used to spoof locations. If a user connects to a VPN server based in a country they're not physically in, they'll appear to be browsing from there instead.

Initial research shows that VPNs make age verification laws in the U.S. and abroad tricky to enforce in practice for this exact reason, as Mashable's Iovine reported. (Never mind the free speech and privacy implications.)

Founded in 2017, Proton VPN currently has 13,700 servers in more than 120 countries worldwide. Read our full review of its service here.

UPDATE: Jul. 25, 2025, 3:50 p.m. EDT This story has been updated with additional details about Proton VPN's signup surge.

UPDATE: Jul. 25, 2025, 12:35 p.m. EDT This story has been updated with a statement from Proton VPN and more information about how VPNs work.

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