Downloads of VPNs have exploded across Britain since age checks were introduced for pornography and other age-restricted websites last week.

As new rules demand age checks and tighter access controls, Brits are turning to VPNs in droves, raising privacy fears and comparisons to authoritarian regimes.

VPNs create a digital tunnel between your computer and a remote server to shield personal information, a tool Labour has said it will not ban. Last Friday, when the act came into effect, there were more than 173,000 searches for VPN on Google, up from 29,000 a week before, according to trends data.