called it lmao:
Proton VPN, an app offered by Swiss privacy tech firm Proton, told the BBC it had seen a 1800% spike in UK daily sign-ups over the weekend after age check rules took effect on Friday.
A Proton spokesperson said the UK was now among countries generating the highest usage of its VPN.
link: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cn72ydj70g5o
vpns are going to go crazy in the UK now with the new internet laws coming into place, no one wants to hand over their id to access websites, especially social media. for those out of the loop a new part of a law passed in 2023 is coming into effect that requires websites to verify someone's age if they have mature content, which includes many social media sites. it also has provisions that requires them to scan for illegal content, including on encrypted platforms iirc. also fun fact there is a similar bill that gives the government power to order companies to build backdoors into their encryption, such as when they ordered apple to open their iPhone encryption without being allowed to tell anyone, which they refused to do and instead just removed the feature in the UK.
bongcloud