Porn websites are highlighting loopholes in the ban on under-18s accessing them, as the watchdog admitted it will be powerless to stop tech-savvy teenagers circumventing it.

The regulator acknowledged virtual private networks (VPNs) will allow users to evade age verification checks from July 15 by allowing under-aged users to create ghost accounts abroad that can access the porn sites.

Although most VPNs require payment, MindGeek, the firm behind some of the world’s largest porn sites, has already released its own free VPN service, VPNHub, which allows users to disguise their location.

Last year it advertised the service with the claim that it would let the user “access all websites and apps securely and privately at home, school, work or from anywhere in the world.”

That description has now been changed, but on Apple’s App Store, VPN Hub boasts it will “mask your true location by routing your data through our full stack of global encrypted servers”.

The app is currently available on Google and Apple app stores although MindGeek claimed it would not be available in UK app stores without age verification once the ban came into effect.

Asked about the prospect of children using VPNs, the British Board of Film Classification (BBFC), the regulator, admitted age-verification is "not a silver bullet."