New Ofcom data has revealed that the percentage of Brits using Virtual Private Networks (VPNs) to access the internet has declined by a third since July, alleviating fears that the Online Safety Act could cause adverse effects for digital publishers.
The introduction of the legislation in July caused a spike in VPN downloads, with the number of daily active users in the UK spiking to 1.5m. But this had dropped to 1m daily users by late September, according to Ofcom’s tracking, only marginally above the numbers before the Act came into effect.
Mass adoption of privacy tools like VPNs would seriously threaten the industry, preventing the ability to track and geo-target users, with many also including ad-blocking technology. When the legislation came into effect, there was also concern that the Act could speed up the spread of dark traffic, a critical issue for digital advertising.
However, five months later, and it appears as though predictions of mass VPN adoption and a surge of dark traffic were too pessimistic. This will allow digital publishers to breathe a sigh of relief.
