"We decided not to limit VPNs." These six words from Online Safety Minister Kanishka Narayan ended months of tension on Wednesday, confirming the government's U-turn on age-gating privacy tools.
VPN services are popular software that millions of people in the UK use every day to encrypt their online activities for better privacy and security. Yet, their ability to grant access to geo-blocked content has also been making enemies among democratic countries lately, as age verification laws spread across the world.
This friction has led some British lawmakers to dub VPNs a "loophole that needed to be closed," prompting a national consultation to investigate how kids use this technology.
The announcement of an upcoming UK teen social media ban has made this process even more crucial. Since then, many have speculated that it would have helped to tip the scales towards new VPN restrictions. And yet, that didn't happen.
"This is the right call, and a welcome recognition that VPNs play a crucial role in everyday cybersecurity," Justas Pukys, Senior Product Manager at Surfshark, told TechRadar, adding that protecting children online and preserving strong cybersecurity tools "can, and should, go hand in hand."
But why did the UK government choose to leave VPNs alone after all? And can this bold decision pave the way for a similar response in the rest of Europe?
Why the UK government will not age-gate VPNs
As the UK Science, Innovation and Technology Secretary, Liz Kendall, explains in a parliamentary statement, VPNs have legitimate privacy and security uses. The reason why, she explains, "we will therefore not age-gate or ban them."
Independent research conducted by Kendall's department has indeed found that privacy is the top reason UK children use a VPN. Only a small minority of them — between 7% and 10% — do so to bypass mandatory age checks.
The latest Ofcom report on the use of age assurance — which was also published on Wednesday — paints a similar picture. While confirming that VPN usage doubled in the UK following the enforcement of mandatory age verification, only "a relatively small minority of children" use these tools to access restricted content or features.
These findings mirror separate YouGov research commissioned by the VPN Trust Initiative, which revealed that a mere 1.4% of surveyed minors use a VPN specifically to access platforms meant for older demographics. Before that, a May 2026 study conducted by Internet Matters also found that only 7% used a VPN to circumvent age restrictions.
This evidence doesn't necessarily mean that children aren't trying to evade controls. Yet, they show how most young people do so simply by entering a fake birthdate or using a parent's login.
So, the onus to prevent kids from evading controls is now back on the platforms. But the government also shared the intention to "engage with VPN providers on voluntary action and strengthen guidance and support for parents."
NordVPN's Privacy Advocate, Laura Tyrylyte, welcomes the prospect of working with lawmakers to find a balanced solution, praising Kendall's decision.
"The Government is right to recognise the important role that VPNs play and to adopt an evidence-led approach," Tyrylyte told TechRadar.
And while arguing that "it should have been obvious from the start," Windscribe's CEO, Yegor Sak, explains that this move reassures VPN users in the UK that they can continue using VPNs. "Without worrying that a legal privacy tool is about to be treated as suspicious by default," he added.
Will other countries follow the UK?
UK wasn't alone in toying with the idea of age-restricting VPN apps.
The EU is also considering something similar following the release of its age verification app. On a national level, France is also evaluating VPN use as it gets ready to enforce its under-15 social media ban.
That's why Mozilla Product Policy Manager, Svea Windwehr, urges European governments to follow the UK's lead.
"We urge policymakers everywhere to address the root causes of online harms, and follow the UK's evidence-based approach in keeping VPNs accessible for everyone," Windwehr told TechRadar.
And while the wider industry is now hopeful that VPN restrictions will ultimately disappear from politicians' agendas, the tensions between children's safety and people's privacy have not been defused yet.
"If an online safety regime only works when everyone's location and identity are easy to verify, the problem is the regime. Not the tool that prevents constant identification," Sak from Windiscribe told TechRadar.
NymVPN's CEO, Harry Halpin, agrees with Sak on this, warning that UK lawmakers' action could still impact VPN users in the country.
"The problem is that the UK government is still pursuing its idea of connecting your passport to your internet usage," Halpin told TechRadar, arguing that this still "hinders free access to the internet even if VPNs are usable."
The road to ensuring age verification systems don't hurt our digital freedoms may still be long. But protecting the integrity of the VPN is certainly a step in the right direction that we hope more politicians will replicate.
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