The UK won’t ban or age-gate VPNs under the Online Safety Act, confirms the minister. This decision comes as the ban on social media for those under 16 approaches.
The UK government discovered a rare setting on its control panel labelled ‘leave it alone’ and, for once, pressed the button. ‘Leave it alone’, & for once it had pressed the button. ‘Online Safety’ minister Kanishka Narayan appeared on BBC Breakfast on Wednesday, 15 July 2026. Narayan shared the long-awaited news that the government had decided not to limit VPNs, a decision privacy advocates had been urging for a year.
That may mean no age gate on virtual private networks. Additionally, there is no ban, except for the requirement to provide a passport before routing traffic through an encrypted tunnel. The tools that let one step around the UK’s expanding age-check regime stay legal, besides being unrestricted. It may count as a real win, even though the people delivering it may rather call it something blander.
The plan they walked away from may be uglier. As the Online Safety Act’s age-verification machinery switched on, adults across the UK began reaching for VPNs to get out from under it. Ministers also considered targeting the exits.
If everyone drives around the checkpoint, close the roads. Technology Secretary Liz Kendall promised in June to return in July with a further statement. That statement has landed, & it blinks. Kendall’s written note to Parliament was just as flat. The government may allow the software because VPNs have legitimate privacy and security uses.
Narayan shared the human detail. Whistleblowers had shared that VPNs were important to them.
Minority groups have shared that the ability to use VPNs is a vital tool in which they can call out for help when they need it.
Disabling the tool to prevent a 14-year-old from sneaking onto TikTok also affects everyone else who may need it.
China likewise moves with similar privacy regulations, although permitting the use of VPNs that are already registered with the authorities.
