Adult parties shall verify age. We're checking to see if VPN will help avoid the blockade.

As of July 2025, adult websites and other selected online platforms in the EU have introduced more effective age verification systems for users. The purpose of these changes is to limit minors' access to harmful content and to increase the liability of service owners for the content provided.

Key changes include:

• The owners of adult websites (and gambling, streaming or popular social media with age restrictions) will be required to implement a mechanism to confirm the age of the user..
• The most commonly used tool is to be a special app to confirm the age without the need for full personal data. This solution protects the privacy of users and complies with GDPR regulations.
• Lack of age confirmation may result in limiting the service function or completely blocking access to selected pages.
• Age verification is no longer limited to pornographic and gambling sites – the application will also include platforms such as YouTube, TikTok, Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, X (formerly Twitter), Pinterest or LinkedIn, if they offer content only for people over a certain age.
• The new system is based on transitional solutions to be developed until the implementation of the EU digital identity portfolio (scheduled for 2026).

How will this affect users and industry?

• Adults will have to install an age-verifying application or use another available form of confirmation of their adulthood.
• Platforms that do not implement the required safeguards may be punished or their activities will be reduced.
• The changes are intended to increase the protection of the youngest and to reduce the risk of misuse of inappropriate online content.

Privacy and security

The application does not pass on the name, name or number of documents to the parties concerned – only the fact of age is confirmed.

The system does not provide for mandatory biometric methods (e.g. facial scans or fingerprints), which minimises the risk of breach of privacy.

Will VPN help avoid sending information when verifying age?

Using VPN (Virtual Private Network) provides a certain level of anonymity and privacy protection on the network, but it is not always enough to avoid completely transmitting information during age verification.

How does VPN work in this context?

• VPN encrypts your move and hides your IP address in front of websites and Internet service provider. This allows you to appear to be a user from a completely different country or region.
• In practice, website operators may not see your real IP address and other location information.

Circumvention of blockages and age verification

• In theory, if the age verification system depends only on geolocation (IP address), VPN will allow you to bypass the lock, entering pages from a server of another country where there are no such restrictions.
• However, most new solutions require an external verification application that Authorizes the user's age regardless of its location. Then VPN does not avoid the required verification – because you still have to confirm your age according to the service requirements.

What should you be careful of?

• VPN does NOT give full anonymity – VPN providers may maintain logs or be required to disclose data at the request of the services.
• If a page or application requests a document or authorization by a separate application, VPN will not delete this necessity.
• Increasingly, verification systems are resistant to the very use of VPN – the app will ask about age, no matter where you log on to the Internet.

What does VPN give to age verification?