There are “no current plans” to ban VPNs, but “nothing is off the table when it comes to keeping children safe”, a tech minister has said.
Baroness Liz Lloyd warned there was “limited evidence on children’s use of VPNs”, or virtual private networks, which can help internet users bypass UK internet rules and filters.
She saw off a Lords motion to regret Ofcom’s Protection of Children Codes of Practice, written as part of the under-fire Online Safety Act 2023.
The code, brought in earlier this year, puts a duty on social media and search engine firms to steer children away from seeing pornography, suicide, self-harm and eating disorder content online.
It also places a duty on technology firms to steer some children away from accessing “content inciting hatred” and “bullying” material.
Lord Clement-Jones warned there were “immediate concerns around implementation” of the Online Safety Act.
The Liberal Democrat technology spokesman in the Lords, who tabled and later withdrew the motion, warned that the use of VPNs by children was “widespread”.
This “risks rendering age-assurance measures ineffective”, Lord Clement-Jones added.
At the same time, “there are concerns also that important content such as political debate, educational sites and information sites like Wikipedia, and support forums dealing with LGBTQ+ rights or sexual health are being inappropriately age-gated on social media”, he said.
Lord Clement-Jones said: “We raised this as a major risk during the passage of the Act.”
Wikipedia founder Jimmy Wales told The House magazine this week that the Online Safety Act was “very poorly thought-out legislation”.
He said: “We will not be age-gating Wikipedia under any circumstances, so, if it comes to that, it’s going to be an interesting showdown, because we’re going to just refuse to do it.
“Politically, what are they going to do? They could block Wikipedia. Good luck with that.”
Not-for-profit Internet Matters found after a survey two years ago that at least 8% of nine to 17-year-olds used a VPN to browse the web.
“The Government will continue to monitor the use of circumvention techniques, including VPNs, and any future interventions will be informed by the evidence,” Baroness Lloyd of Effra said.
“At the moment, there is limited evidence on children’s use of VPNs, and the Government is looking at ways of addressing this evidence gap.
“And there are no current plans to ban the use of VPNs, as there are legitimate reasons for using VPNs.”
Baroness Lloyd said the watchdog Ofcom was “committed to strengthening” the codes and added: “The Government has made it clear that nothing is off the table when it comes to keeping children safe, and we will continue to monitor and assess the effectiveness of the Online Safety Act in robustly protecting children online.”
