On Friday 25th July, Ofcom ushered in new changes to the Online Safety Act to make the access to adult content, such as pornography, suicide and other potentially sensitive subjects - much more difficult.

From the 25th July, platforms that host adult content need to ask every one of its users to verify their age and make sure they are 18 or older. To check for age, the sites can let users take a selfie or use their photo ID, such as a driving licence. However, there are other methods available to these platforms, such as a credit card check and photo ID matching.

Aside from the obvious porn sites, Reddit and Bluesy have also started to implement age checks.

Failure to comply in these new rules can result in the businesses being fined £18 million, or 10% of global revenue, whichever one is higher. This can also extend to executives being jailed.

It hasn't taken users very long to work out that VPNs provide a very easy way to get around these restrictions. Other users have managed to use an AI generated photo ID card or even in some circumstances, taking a photo of a video game character.

While VPNs provide a very simple and almost unpreventable way to access adult content, it is now illegal for any VPN providers to promote their services as a way to circumvent the Online Safety Act.

Source: GOV.UK