People are worried that the UK government could be gearing up to ban VPNs after people started exploiting them to get past the Online Safety Act.
The Online Safety Act, aptly nicknamed the “porn crackdown”, came into effect earlier this week when the government essentially made adult content unwatchable without prior age verification.
“To continue, we are required to verify that you are 18 or older, in line with the UK Online Safety Act. To view your verification options, please visit our Age Verification Page. As part of this process, you will be asked to create a new account on Pornhub – this will automatically create a new account on AllpassTrust as well,” a message on Pornhub now reads.
People have already found loopholes around the age verification process, including using character creation screens on video games, so people questioned whether Labour would patch the issue by banning Virtual Private Networks, more commonly referred to as VPNs.
Why do people think the UK government is going to ban VPNs?
Credit: Privecstasy
The misinformation seems to have been sparked by a report in Guido Fawkes that highlighted backbench MP Sarah Champion’s earlier legislation against VPNs.
“My new clause 54 would require the Secretary of State to publish, within six months of the Bill’s passage, a report on the effect of VPN use on Ofcom’s ability to enforce the requirements under clause 112. If VPNs cause significant issues, the Government must identify those issues and find solutions, rather than avoiding difficult problems,” she’d said.
Shadow digital minister Alex Davies-Jones backed the change, arguing that the clause “touches on the issue of future-proofing, which Labour has raised repeatedly in debates on the Bill.”
Considering VPN usage has skyrocketed since the Online Safety Act came into effect, many people believed a VPN was only a matter of time.
They are totally going to try and ban VPN’s aren’t they ?One VPN download = One child irreparably damaged by the internet. pic.twitter.com/muEw2aldjs
— Minx (@Mangaminx) July 29, 2025
So, is the government actually going to do it?
Labour Tech Secretary Peter Kyle has since revealed that the Government is “not considering a VPN ban” because there are “far more people who are actually there to prove their age in a legitimate way.”
Can’t ban my VPN if they don’t know which country I am in. https://t.co/gRcxeYgoYc pic.twitter.com/jWgTrP6xqv
— Matt (@TotalFootEcon) July 29, 2025
“So you will find a small number of people who will use VPNs, most of them will be adults themselves. But you will see now moving forward, a new online experience for children and parents,” he said.
“They will notice the difference. It is the biggest step forward in safety since the invention of the internet. When it comes to children, that is something we celebrate. Adults should get behind the aid verification system, because every time they do it, you keep a child safe. If platforms or sites signpost towards workarounds like VPNs, then that itself is a crime and will be tackled by these codes.”
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