Government Set to Restrict UK Children’s Use of Internet VPNs and Social Media

The UK Prime Minister, Kier Starmer, has today proposed last minute amendments to two Bills that will enable the Government to set a minimum age limit for social media (i.e. greater use of Age Verification), as well as options to age restrict or limit children’s use of Virtual Private Networks (VPN), where it “undermines safety protections and changing the age of digital consent“.

As regular readers will already know, the UK’s Online Safety Act (OSA) – a product of both the past and present governments – already includes a requirement for “highly effective” Age Verification. The original goal of this was to restrict the ability of children to access “harmful” adult content, such as porn, although political mission creep has inevitably started to cast a wider net and introduce ever more expansion censorship.

The latest proposals include plans to amend both the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill (CWSB) and the Crime and Policing Bill (CPB), both of which are already nearing the end of their debate cycle before achieving royal assent to become law.

However, the proposed changes will first need to be guided by a new Children’s Digital Wellbeing Consultation, which is due to “launch next month” and will be “guided by what parents and children say they need now, not in several years’ time“. On the other hand, today’s announcement does rather make it sound like the Government has already made up its mind on the key issues.

The Government said “these powers will mean we can act fast on its findings within months, rather than waiting years for new primary legislation every time technology evolves … no platform gets a free pass“.

Key Changes Being Proposed

➤ A “crackdown on vile illegal content created by AI“. The government will shut a legal loophole and force all AI chatbot providers to abide by illegal content duties in the Online Safety Act or face the consequences of breaking the law.

➤ Setting a minimum age limit for social media.

➤ Restricting features like infinite scrolling that are deemed harmful.

➤ The government will also consult on how best to ensure tech companies can safeguard children from sending or receiving nude images in the first place.

➤ The government will “examine … options” to age restrict or limit children’s VPN use where it undermines safety protections and changing the age of digital consent.

➤ Strengthen protections for families facing the most devastating circumstances by ensuring that vital data following a child’s death is preserved before it can be deleted, except in cases where online activity is clearly not relevant to the death.

The key details around some of this are currently unclear. For example, we don’t yet know what sort of minimum age limit will be set (under 18s, under 16s etc.) or whether the government’s definition of “social media” extends beyond the major platforms (Facebook, X etc.), which might cause it to reach into other user-to-user services (e.g. small community forums about general topics that don’t appeal to children, help forums for sensitive subjects, chat systems inside online video games etc.). Suffice to say that there are a variety of technical, privacy, ethical and economic challenges, particularly for the smallest of websites that may lack the capability to adapt.

UK Prime Minister, Keir Starmer, said:

“As a dad of two teenagers, I know the challenges and the worries that parents face making sure their kids are safe online.

Technology is moving really fast, and the law has got to keep up. With my government, Britain will be a leader not a follower when it comes to online safety.

The action we took on Grok sent a clear message that no platform gets a free pass.

Today we are closing loopholes that put children at risk, and laying the groundwork for further action.

We are acting to protect children’s wellbeing and help parents to navigate the minefield of social media.”

However, despite the focus on children above, it’s important for adult users to understand that wider use of Age Verification will directly impact their own use of and access to such services, potentially preventing your access until such time as you agree to share your personal biometric or financial data with often unknown, unfamiliar and unregulated third-party organisations. The above remarks are particularly relevant when you consider that it may be mostly adults driving VPN usage to bypass age verification in order to avoid sharing their personal data with unknown entities.

All of this is before we touch on the potentially far-reaching and unintended consequences of enforcing age verification on VPNs, which are also legitimate tools for businesses, journalists and to help protect people (security) when abroad or on public networks etc. Many such VPNs can be deeply integrated into modern protection and network optimisation systems, often acting seamlessly in the background, thus a blanket requirement risks being extraordinarily disruptive.

The reality is that, whatever the government decides, children who go seeking access to such systems and content will always find a way to circumvent any measures that are introduced – just as they always have done (e.g. people can create their own personal VPNs with ease). Instead, it often ends up being the innocent and harmless online services and security systems that could be hurt the most by the sledgehammer approach to age-gated internet censorship.

Finally, big questions also remain over how the government will go about awkward business of ensuring tech companies can safeguard children from even sending or receiving nude images in the first place, which could be difficult as many people these days use private messaging apps based around end-to-end encryption.

Please note that we won’t be able to approve any comments on this news article that appear to directly promote specific VPN services, due to the risk that this could clash with the government’s prior warnings about such promotions (here).