Politicians, technologists and civil society organizations have reacted with dismay after a vote in the House of Lords to ban children from using VPNs and force providers to implement age verification measures.
Wikipedia co-founder Jimmy Wales criticized the move on X, calling Britain’s stance an embarrassment. Windscribe CEO Yegor Sak previously described the proposal as the “dumbest possible solution” and warned that age verification for VPNs would set a terrible precedent for digital privacy.
Labour, Lords & VPN laws
The change will require commercial VPN providers to implement mandatory age assurance technology to prevent minors from using their services to circumvent online security measures.
The government – which opposed the change – has launched a three-month consultation period on children’s social media, which includes consideration of VPN use.
The UK war on VPNs is an embarrassment. For the sake of children’s safety, we should teach children about internet safety – including why you should use a VPN to protect your privacy, block malware, etc. To keep children safe, do we legislate to prevent them from being safer online? Mad.26 January 2026
Political backlash
While the House of Lords has signaled its intention, the proposal now moves to the House of Commons, where it is expected to face significant opposition from the Labor government.
If the Commons rejects the amendment – which it is expected to do – the House of Lords will have to 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 change, told TechRadar that he believes politicians are unlikely to “die in a ditch” over a VPN ban.
According to Lord Knight, many politicians are more focused on delivering “something iconic” around children’s safety rather than navigating the technical minefield of regulating VPNs.
However, he noted that regulator Ofcom “needs to do a better job” of enforcing existing safety laws and agreed with the government that more is required to protect children online, as long as it is done “carefully”.
Civil society response
Regardless of whether Lord’s proposal becomes law or not, it’s clear that VPNs face more scrutiny now than ever before. And it’s not limited to the UK.
Evan Greer, director of US-based Fight for the Future, told TechRadar that policies aimed at discouraging or banning VPN use would “put human rights activists, journalists, survivors of abuse and other vulnerable people in immediate danger.”
Fight for the Future is currently hosting a campaign on DefendVPNs.com that allows users to write directly to lawmakers. The campaign’s open letter argues that using the internet safely and privately is a basic human right.
Meanwhile, in the UK, a petition is calling on the government to reject any proposal that would effectively ban VPNs for children.
The Open Rights Group has also been active in raising awareness of the tools, arguing that detecting or banning VPNs is not technically possible without “extreme levels of digital authoritarianism”.
