Italy introduces mandatory age verification. Here’s how this Black Friday deal can help you protect your privacy

Following the UK, France and several US states, Italy has also implemented the mandatory age verification system.

Starting today, November 12, 2025, Italians must prove they are at least 18 years old to access websites that display adult content.

While the country’s communications authority, AGCOM, claims that the Italian system is based on a “double anonymity” model to protect citizens’ privacy, interest in VPN applications has grown since then. Announced on October 31.

As we have seen in the UK, such an increase in demand can lead users to buy dangerous gifts. However, these apps are not a quick and easy solution and can further compromise user data.

In fact, several reports have repeatedly shown that despite some of the best free VPN apps, many free apps available in official app stores are unreliable due to security issues, data logging, malware, and hidden features.

The good news is that many premium VPN providers are dropping their prices for Black Friday. Even better, some of the top VPN services are already offering their Black Friday VPN deals, including NewForTech’s top pick, NordVPN.

NewForTech’s Best Black Friday VPN Deals:

Age Verification and VPN: Everything You Need to Know

A virtual private network (VPN) is security software that encrypts users’ Internet connections while spoofing their real IP address by redirecting traffic through one of the international servers.

Especially this last possibility is the reason why VPN has also become the best tool to bypass the new mandatory age verification around the world. A reputation that is increasingly being noticed by legislators.

Wisconsin and Michigan have even gone so far as to consider legal requirements to block VPN traffic. If passed, this latest proposal would not only require ISPs to monitor and block VPN connections, but also ban the advertising or sale of circumvention tools that provide access to prohibited material. A bill that Proton, the company behind the popular Proton VPN product, called a “threat to political discourse.”

Meanwhile, British politicians see this technology as a “void to be filled”, although they have repeatedly said that a ban on VPNs is out of the question.

Other AGCOM RegulationThe only obligation regarding VPNs applies to all companies that are legally required to implement the age verification system, i.e. the listed adult sites. These providers “must not promote or refer to mechanisms to circumvent pension schemes.”

It’s hard to tell whether people using a VPN to verify age are privacy-conscious users reluctant to share their most sensitive data with third parties or minors trying to bypass age verification (probably a combination of the two).

Disclaimer

We test and assess VPN services in the context of legal recreational use. For example: 1. Accessing a service from another country (subject to the terms of that service). 2. Protect your online security and improve your online privacy abroad. We do not support or condone the use of a VPN service to break the law or conduct illegal activities. Future Publishing does not condone or condone the use of pirated copies for a fee.