SP24 Response Response Pending

VPN age verification

Recommendation

Phase 2 should consider age verification for the use of Virtual Private Network (VPN) software and other options to avoid VPNs being used to circumvent the age-related protections in the Online Safety Act 2023.

Published Evidence Summary
The following publicly available evidence relates to this recommendation:
No formal government response has been recorded for this recommendation. No independent verification has been carried out.
Sources
Based on tracking data in the inquiry database.
How was this evidence gathered?
Evidence searched by baseline-data-v1 on 16 Apr 2026
Checked data held on this site (government responses, progress updates, independent evidence)
Jurisdiction
UK-wide
Response
Response Pending

No government response recorded.

Progress Timeline
Manual Entry
13 Apr 2026

Awaiting government response. Phase 1 report published 13 April 2026.

Source
Report The Southport Inquiry Report: Phase 1 13 Apr 2026
Responsible Bodies
Southport Inquiry Phase 2 Primary
Last formal update 13 Apr 2026