What do young people really know about Virtual Private Networks (VPNs)?

Introduction

As new age assurance measures have begun to take effect under the Online Safety Act (2023) (opens in new tab), there are early indications that some young people are turning to Virtual Private Networks (VPNs) to bypass restrictions. While gambling is not a designated priority area under the Act, we need to better understand whether children and young people may be using these tools to access gambling-related content they would otherwise be restricted from seeing.

To explore this further we asked Yonder to measure awareness of VPNs among 11 to 17 year olds on their Children’s Omnibus survey.

Methodology

Yonder surveyed 1,020 children aged 11 to 17 years online between 30 April and 5 May 2026 via Yonder’s Children’s Omnibus. Consent was given from the parent and the children to take part in the survey.

List experiment

The survey asked children about a potentially sensitive behaviour. To combat social desirability bias, Yonder used an indirect survey technique which helps to accurately measure the prevalence of behaviours or attitudes that may be illegal, stigmatised, or socially undesirable.

This approach is specifically designed to minimise the tendency for respondents to under‑report behaviours they think may be judged negatively, even when confidentiality is assured.

The list experiment method provides children with greater privacy when responding, which is particularly important if a parent is nearby. It allows them to answer honestly without having to directly admit to any behaviour themselves, making it both more reliable and more ethically appropriate.

For analysis, Yonder compared the average number of items selected by the treatment group (Group B), who receive a list that includes the sensitive item (using a Virtual Private Network (VPN) to gamble), with the average number selected by the control group (Group A), who received the same list without the sensitive item. The difference between these 2 averages provides an estimate of the proportion of children engaging in the behaviour of interest.

Strengths and limitations

Strengths

This approach provides a robust snapshot of awareness and understanding of VPNs among young people and allows findings to be analysed across key demographic groups such as age and gender.

The omnibus format is also a cost-effective and efficient way to gather evidence on emerging issues. As VPN use and online age assurance measures continue to evolve, the methodology allowed us to quickly capture young people's experiences and perceptions at a national level.

The study used a list experiment to explore a potentially sensitive topic: the use of VPNs to access gambling websites. This method offers respondents greater privacy than direct questioning and helps reduce social desirability bias, where participants may be reluctant to admit to behaviours they perceive as inappropriate, risky or against the rules.

This is particularly important when researching children and young people, who may complete surveys in shared environments or with parents nearby. By asking respondents to report how many behaviours they think other people their age have engaged in, rather than whether they have personally done so, the approach encourages more honest responses while minimising the risk of introducing young people to potentially harmful behaviours through direct questioning.

Limitations

The findings should be interpreted in light of several limitations.

First, omnibus surveys are designed to provide breadth rather than depth. While they are effective for identifying patterns and generating population-level estimates, they cannot fully explore the motivations, contexts or experiences behind young people's awareness and use of VPNs. Qualitative research would be needed to better understand how and why young people use these technologies.

Second, all survey data are based on self-report. Measures of VPN awareness and understanding rely on participants' own assessments of their knowledge and may not always reflect their actual level of understanding. Omnibus surveys are also made up of people who agree to be part of a panel and are not based on random-probability sampling meaning the results may not be representative of the population of 11-17 year olds in Great Britain.

The list experiment also measures perceptions rather than directly measuring behaviour. The estimate that around 13 percent of children believe their peers have used a VPN to access gambling sites should not be interpreted as a direct estimate of personal VPN use for gambling. Instead, it provides an indication of how prevalent young people perceive this behaviour to be among their peer group.

Finally, as with all survey-based estimates, there is a degree of statistical uncertainty, particularly when analysing smaller subgroups. Differences between groups should therefore be interpreted as indicative rather than definitive.

This research provides an important early insight into young people's awareness of VPNs and perceptions of their use for gambling, but further research would be valuable to understand behaviours in more detail and track changes over time.

Findings

Virtual Private Networks (VPNs) are no longer the preserve of tech-savvy adults. Among 11 to 17 year olds, awareness is already widespread - but understanding and usage tell a more nuanced story.

Awareness is high – but understanding is mixed

More than three-quarters (76 percent) of young people aged 11 to 17 say they are aware of VPNs. Boys (81 percent) are more likely to be aware than girls (70 percent), and awareness is generally concentrated in older age groups, with almost 9 in 10 (89 percent) 16 to 17 year olds reporting they are aware of VPNs, versus 61 percent of 11 to 12 year olds.

However, fewer young people understand what VPNs do. Just over a third (36 percent) say they know how they work. As with awareness, understanding is higher among boys (41 percent) than girls (30 percent), and rises significantly with age. Half (50 percent) of 16 to 17 year olds say they understand VPNs, compared to only 1 in 5 (21 percent) 11 to 12 year olds.

Young people who understand VPNs describe them accurately

Young people who said they understand what VPNs do, accurately described them as location-based, centred on protection and/or security and/or privacy, but also a route through which to view blocked or banned content.

Many recognise that VPNs can change or disguise location:

Others highlight the protective functions of VPNs:

A significant proportion also associate VPNs with accessing restricted content:

How do young people know about VPNs?

When it comes to learning about VPNs, word-of-mouth sources dominate awareness. Among those that were aware of VPNs, their predominant sources were friends (42 percent), family (37 percent) and YouTube and/or TikTok videos (36 percent). Overall, young people are more likely to hear about VPNs through offline sources (71 percent) than online ones (47 percent) suggesting that peer conversations and family environments play a crucial role in spreading awareness.

Using VPNs to access gambling

Understanding what children and young people use VPNs for is complex, as asking directly about gambling risks socially desirable answers and unintentionally introducing young people to illegal activities.

Yonder therefore used a list experiment, which asks about VPN usage to gamble online in an indirect fashion, by banking it with 4 other statements, to estimate how common it is for young people to use VPNs to access gambling platforms. Social desirability bias is also further limited by asking children to think of what some of their friends, or some other people their age, have done recently, so they do not have to answer directly about their own behaviour. In the experiment, responses are compared between 2 groups, a control group and a treatment group. The following diagram shows how the experiment works.

Given all else is the same between the control group and the treatment group, we can convert this mean score difference of 0.13 into a proportional estimate: around 13 percent of children believe that their peers have used a VPN to gamble online.

Intuitively, this estimate is higher among those that are aware of VPNs (20 percent). It is also higher for 16 to 17 year olds (19 percent), particularly when compared to 11 to 12 year olds (2 percent), meaning older teenagers and those that are aware of VPNs are more likely to think that other young people their age have used a VPN to gamble online.

Conclusion

What this means

These findings point to a clear takeaway: while awareness of Virtual Private Networks (VPNs) among young people is widespread, understanding remains partial and uneven. VPNs are not just abstract tools - they are actively discussed, shared, and, in some cases, used in ways that may bypass safeguards or restrictions.

This matters because such perceptions may contribute to riskier online behaviours, particularly among older teenagers and those already familiar with VPNs. The gap between awareness and understanding is therefore not just an educational issue, but a potential pathway through which exposure to harms - including illegal gambling - can increase.

We know that VPNs are one of the avenues that can expose people to the risks of illegal gambling - affecting both children and adults. Tackling this part of the illegal gambling supply chain is a challenge interlinked with a much wider range of online harms.