One app maker told the BBC it had seen an 1,800% spike in downloads. “Many of these free VPNs are riddled with issues,” said Daniel Card, a cyber-security expert with the Chartered Institute for IT (BCS).

“Some act as traffic brokers for data harvesting firms, others are so poorly built they expose users to attacks.”

He told the BBC despite posing a range of potential privacy risks, such apps “end up in the hands of kids trying to watch age-restricted content”, or adults “trying to get round blocks”.

Ah yes, there it is: won’t anyone think of the children. I expected that argument higher up.