VPN Demand 2026: Age Verification Laws Drive a New Wave
VPNs have never been more popular, and 2026 is shaping up to be the biggest year yet for the privacy industry. The driver is a wave of age-verification laws rolling out across the US, UK, and Europe.
In the United States, 25 states now require websites hosting adult content to verify user ages before granting access. Methods include bank verification, government ID submission, and even facial scanning.
Millions of users who do not want to hand over that level of personal data are turning to VPNs instead. When the UK’s Online Safety Act went live in 2025, adult site traffic from UK IP addresses dropped 77% — a clear signal that users chose VPNs over ID submission.
Spain became the first EU country to ban social media for under-16s in February 2026, following Australia’s lead. Each new restriction creates another wave of VPN downloads as people seek ways around the rules.
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Post-Quantum Encryption Is the Next Big VPN Feature
Beyond access and privacy, the VPN industry is preparing for a threat that most users have not heard of yet: quantum computing attacks. Current encryption methods that protect VPN tunnels can theoretically be broken by a powerful quantum computer.
Post-quantum encryption, or PQE, uses algorithms designed to resist quantum attacks. Major providers are racing to add it before quantum computers become powerful enough to pose a real risk.
NordVPN already offers post-quantum protection on its latest protocols. Proton VPN says it is “monitoring the situation” and waiting for industry standards before rolling out its own version.
ExpressVPN is developing its implementation. For business users handling sensitive data, checking whether your VPN provider has a PQE roadmap is now a basic security question.
On the service side, NordVPN, ExpressVPN, and Surfshark remain the top three choices in 2026 based on speed tests, server network size, and privacy audits.
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