Report
What do young people really know about Virtual Private Networks (VPNs)?
A report measuring the awareness of VPN's among 11 to 17 year olds to better understand whether young people may be using these tools to access gambling-related content.
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:
"They make you seem you’re in a different country than what you are." (boy, aged 15)
"Bouncing the signal all over the country, so a fixed point cannot be sourced." (girl, aged 17)
Others highlight the protective functions of VPNs:
"It hides your IP address so you cannot be traced." (girl, aged 15)
"Security tool to protect your data from hackers." (boy, aged 14)
"A private internet connection that can’t be traced back to your address." (boy, aged 16)
A significant proportion also associate VPNs with accessing restricted content:
"They let you pretend you’re in a different country so you can watch TV from different countries." (girl, aged 16)
"You can get access to game releases not available in your location." (boy, aged 12)
"Overrides me not being able to access the internet on my phone in school." (boy, aged 16)
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.
Starting sample (1,020 respondents)
Question: The following is a list of things that other people your age, as well as some adults, do online. Please read through the list and tell us how many that you think some of your friends, or some other people your age, have done recently.
- Control group (511 respondents)
- Treatment group (includes statement about VPNs) (509 respondents)
-
- Spent real money on a game without telling their parents (for example, Robux, EA FC points, or Fortnite skins).
- Stayed up late because they were talking to friends online.
- Used someone else’s log-in details to stream shows or films.
- Watched live sports on an unofficial stream online.
-
- Spent real money on a game without telling their parents (for example, Robux, EA FC points, or Fortnite skins).
- Stayed up late because they were talking to friends online.
- Used someone else’s log-in details to stream shows or films.
- Watched live sports on an unofficial stream online.
- Used a VPN to go on websites or apps where people can bet money or coins on games and/or sports.
- Respondent enters a number between 0 and 4.
- Respondent enters a number between 0 and 5.
- Control group average = 2.1.
- Treatment group average = 2.23.
2.23-2.1 = 0.13
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.
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Conclusion - What do young people really know about VPNs?
Last updated: 20 August 2026
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