What is a VPN and what is the government doing?
On Online Safety Day, we look at what a VPN is and how the government might make changes to stop them being used as a loophole
Sir Keir Starmer has pledged to take on tech giants to keep children safe on social media - and also restrict use of VPNs.
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The prime minister is wary of how Virtual Private Networks (VPNs) can be a loophole to youngsters accessing harmful content and has announced new powers.
Action announced in February followed an outcry at non-consensual intimate images being shared on Grok, the AI chatbot accessible in X, previously known as Twitter.
However, the action will go further than just clamping down on explicit generations on large language models.
Sir Keir 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.
“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.”
This is the situation as it stands.
What is a VPN?
A VPN, which stands for virtual private network, is software that can be installed on computers and phones to effectively take them off the grid from national restrictions and allow greater privacy as well as access to content that is subject to geographical restrictions.
“Every device operates with what’s known as an IP address - those are identifiable and reveal details about your connection to the Internet - like your location and provider,” explains LBC’s Will Guyatt. “One of the main things a VPN does is change or alter this IP address.”
He added: “Because VPNs can change your device IP address they make it easy to pretend your device is operating in a different country. Instead of writing this in Swindon - it would look as though I was in Sweden.”
What is the current law around VPNs in the UK?
There have been concerns that VPNs have the capability to allow users to bypass restrictions that were introduced as part of the Online Safety Act last year.
Will continued: “Simply put - by tricking your device to thinking it's in a different country you never get asked to verify your identity - because our laws do not apply outside the UK. This means you can access restricted content within seconds.”
Despite this, Baroness Liz Lloyd said there is “limited evidence on children’s use of VPNs,” and has said that the government has no plans to ban them.
What is the UK government looking to do?
On the back of the apparent loophole found for VPN use, the government has launched a consultation to “confront the full range of risks children face online”.
“This includes examining restrictions on children’s use of AI chatbots, as well as options to age restrict or limit children’s VPN use where it undermines safety protections and changing the age of digital consent,” the government said.
This means that VPNs might be subject to the same age verifications to access that harmful content currently is.
The government added: “We will also 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.”