- Italy is set to enforce mandatory age verification on November 12, 2025
- Adult-only content websites must prove their users are at least 18 years old
- These websites are forbidden from promoting VPNs to bypass age checks
In less than 24 hours, Italians will be forced to prove they are at least 18 years old every time they want to access websites hosting adult content.
Italy joins France, the UK, and several US states in enforcing mandatory age verification in a bid to shield minors from harmful content online.
The country’s communications authority, AGCOM, says its system has been built on a “double anonymity” model to protect people’s privacy. Yet, age checks have sparked concerns among privacy-conscious users worldwide and often provoked a spike in demand for the best VPN apps.
VPNs and other circumvention tools have become a quick way to bypass new rules, which has fulled debates about whether governments should block VPNs altogether.
In the UK, the communications regulator, Ofcom, has confirmed to TechRadar that it’s actively monitoring VPN use with an unnamed third-party tool. While two US States – Wisconsin and Michigan – are considering introducing an obligation to block VPN traffic.
There are currently no restrictions on using a VPN to bypass Italy’s age verification law and it seems like some have already started researching the most secure VPNs in preparation for the age checks.
However, there is an obligation on the websites to verify users’ age and they are also forbidden from promoting VPNs as a way of bypassing the age checks.
How Italy’s age verification rules affect VPN usage
As per AGCOM’s provisions, the only obligation regarding VPNs applies to all “entities required by law to implement the age verification system.” Put simply, the websites displaying adult-only content.
The list of websites, which AGCOM is expected to keep adding to, “must not promote or otherwise refer to any mechanism for circumventing age assurance systems.”
All this means that Italians won’t be prevented from accessing adult websites when using a VPN – at least for now.
If you’re looking to get a new VPN app, we strongly suggest staying away from dangerous free VPNs and only downloading apps that have been thoroughly reviewed and tested.
There are a handful of free VPN apps we recommend using, including Proton VPN Free and PrivadoVPN Free, but some great premium services have already dropped their pricing with these time-limited Black Friday VPN deals.
We test and review VPN services in the context of legal recreational uses. For example: 1. Accessing a service from another country (subject to the terms and conditions of that service). 2. Protecting your online security and strengthening your online privacy when abroad. We do not support or condone using a VPN service to break the law or conduct illegal activities. Consuming pirated content that is paid-for is neither endorsed nor approved by Future Publishing.
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chiara.castro@futurenet.com (Chiara Castro)
