NordVPN now lets you block adult websites, and here's how it works

There has been a lot of pearl-clutching about VPN services recently, with some pointing out that they're an avenue through which kids can potentially access harmful content. The recent NordVPN update looks to tackle that criticism, though, as it adds DNS-based filtering preventing websites featuring inappropriate content from loading for underage users.

This is the first time a commercial VPN has been used to block adult websites. With the likes of the UK Online Safety Act rolling out in countries around the world, VPNs are usually associated with users finding ways to easily access adult content, rather than putting restrictions in place.

So, why is one of the best VPNs offering this feature? Well, it's about keeping browsing family-friendly. Currently available as part of the iPhone and Android VPN apps, the built-in NordVPN Threat Protection suite already features blockers for ads and trackers, as well as preventing access to malicious sites. This suite of tools has now expanded, providing DNS-based filtering, which compares domains against a list of blacklisted sites. If the domain name matches, the site will not load.

At the end of the day, children accessing harmful adult content online is a legitimate concern. The issue is that many governments seem to be implementing policies in a very heavy-handed way that negatively impact the privacy and freedom of adults. The countries that are forcing users to upload proof of their ID are also sitting on a data breach time bomb.

By adding this DNS filtering tool to its Threat Protection Suite, NordVPN is rebalancing things, as well as positioning itself as a family-friendly VPN. We don't think it will be long before some other top VPNs follow suit.

If you already subscribe to NordVPN and want to figure out how to use this new feature, tap the shield icon, and then 'Use Threat Protection' to enable the feature. Next, tap the 'Adult Site Blocking' toggle. You might also wish to tap the 'Always' option to ensure the feature is enabled at all times.