Politicians, technologists, and civil society organizations have reacted with dismay following a House of Lords vote to ban children from using VPNs and force providers to deploy age verification measures.
Wikipedia co-founder Jimmy Wales critizised the move on X, calling the UK’s stance an embarrassment. Windscribe CEO Yegor Sak previously described the proposal as the "dumbest possible fix" and warned that age verification for VPNs would set a terrible precedent for digital privacy.
Labour, Lords & VPN laws
Last week, the House of Lords voted in favor of an amendment to the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill that would effectively ban VPNs for those under the age of 18.
The amendment would require commercial VPN providers to implement mandatory age assurance technology to prevent minors from using their services to bypass online safety measures.
The government – which opposed the amendment – has launched a three-month consultation period on children’s social media that includes consideration about VPN use.
The UK war on VPNs is an embarassment. For child safety, we should be teaching children about Internet safety - including why you should use a VPN to protect your privacy, block malware, etc.To keep children safe, we are legislating to prevent them being safer online? Mad.January 26, 2026
Political pushback
While the House of Lords has signaled its intent, the proposal now moves to the House of Commons, where it is expected to face significant opposition from the Labour government.
If the Commons rejects the change – which it is expected to do – the House of Lords must decide whether to engage in a round of parliamentary "ping-pong" or concede to the government.
Labour's Lord Knight of Weymouth, who voted against the amendment, told TechRadar he believes it's unlikely that politicians will "die in a ditch" over a VPN ban.
According to Lord Knight, many politicians are more focused on delivering "something iconic" around child safety rather than navigating the technical minefield of regulating VPNs.
However, he noted that the regulator Ofcom "needs to do better" at enforcing existing safety laws and agreed with the government that more is required to protect children online, so long as it's done "carefully".
Civil society's response
Whether the Lords' proposal becomes law or not, it's clear VPNs are facing more scrutiny now than ever before. And it's not limited to the UK.
In the United States, Wisconsin lawmakers are currently advancing a bill which would require websites hosting adult content to block access to any user connected via a VPN. Similarly, Michigan legislators have considered legislation that advocates for ISP-level blocking of circumvention tools.
Evan Greer, Director of US-based Fight for the Future, told TechRadar that policies aimed at discouraging or banning VPN use will "will put human rights activists, journalists, abuse survivors and other vulnerable people in immediate danger."
Fight for the Future is currently hosting a campaign at DefendVPNs.com that allows users to write to lawmakers directly. The campaign's open letter argues that using the internet safely and privately is a fundamental human right.
Meanwhile, in the UK, a petition is calling on the government to reject any proposals that would effectively ban VPNs for children.
The Open Rights Group has also been active raising awareness of the tools and arguing that detecting or banning VPNs is not technically feasible without "extreme level of digital authoritarianism".
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