After Great Britain, France and a number of US states, Italy has now implemented its mandatory age verification system.
Starting today, November 12, 2025, Italians must prove they are over 18 years of age to access websites displaying adult content.
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Age Verification and VPN – Everything You Need to Know
A virtual private network (VPN) is a security software that encrypts users' Internet connections while spoofing their real IP address by rerouting traffic through one of its international servers.
This latter skill is precisely why VPNs have also become the ideal tool for bypassing the new mandatory age verification around the world. A reputation that is increasingly attracting attention from lawmakers.
Wisconsin And Michigan went so far as to consider the legal obligation to block VPN traffic. If passed, the latest proposal would not only force ISPs to monitor and block VPN connections, but would also prohibit the promotion or sale of circumvention tools to access prohibited material. A bill that Proton, the company behind the popular Proton VPN product defined as “danger to political discourse“
At the same time, British politicians considered this technology “loophole that needs to be closed”, despite repeated statements that banning VPNs is impossible.
According to AGCOM regulationsThe only VPN obligation applies to all organizations that are legally required to implement an age verification system, i.e. listed adult sites. These providers “must not promote or otherwise refer to any mechanism to circumvent age assurance systems.”
Regardless of whether people use VPN age verification It's hard to know whether it's privacy-conscious users who don't want to share their most sensitive data with a third party, or minors who want to evade age verification—it's likely a combination of both.
We test and review VPN services in the context of legal entertainment use. For example: 1. Accessing a service from another country (subject to the terms and conditions of that service). 2. Protect your online security and enhance your online privacy when you're abroad. We do not support or condone the use of a VPN service to break the law or conduct illegal activities. The use of paid pirated content is not approved or endorsed by Future Publishing.
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