Nottingham ranks third in the list of UK cities most likely to dodge under-16s social media ban

With 2027 seeing the social media ban for under-16s, new research has revealed the cities most likely to try and dodge it.

The study, by online casino Winz.io, analysed the monthly search volumes of the past 12 months for 18 keywords related to VPNs across 73 UK cities and measured this against population data to see which cities came out on top and which were most likely to dodge next year’s social media ban for under-16s.

It found that Cambridge is the city most likely to dodge the social media ban. The city has seen an average of 2,362 searches for VPNs made each month, and when compared to the city’s population, this comes out to 1,546 searches per 100,000 people, the highest of any UK city.

Manchester comes second on the list, with 1,396 searches per 100,000 people when accounting for population. There are 10,108 searches a month for VPNs.

Taking third on the list is Nottingham. The city sees 4,183 searches a month for VPNs on average, and combined with its population, this comes out to 1,395 searches per 100,000 people.

Salisbury comes fourth on the list, with 581 searches a month for VPNs, and accounting for population, this comes out to 1,218 VPN searches per 100,000 people.

Rounding out the top five is Norwich, where there are 2,810 monthly searches for VPNs. When accounting for population, this comes out to 1,175 searches per 100,000 people.

Hardy Heberle, CMO at Winz.io commented on the findings, “With 2027’s social media ban for under-16s being viewed as an unfair and wrong decision by many young people in the country, it is likely there are going to be many people who seek to get around the ban. VPNs are possibly one of the ways of doing this, especially with them already in use to circumvent the current measures of the Online Safety Act, so their searches could soon skyrocket.”