Online Safety Act 2023: Virtual Private Networks

Lord Clement-Jones Excerpts

Monday 15th September 2025 Lords Chamber

Asked by

[Lord Clement-Jones]

To ask His Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of the increased use of virtual private networks since the implementation of age verification requirements for access to primary priority content under the Online Safety Act 2023.

[Lord in Waiting/Government Whip (Lord Leong) (Lab)]

My Lords, the Government and Ofcom are monitoring the potential impact of circumvention techniques on the effectiveness of the Online Safety Act, especially since the child safety duties came into effect in July 2025. Services promoting VPN use to bypass age checks could face enforcement action. These duties represent a major milestone in protecting children online, making it harder for children to access harmful content. We must allow sufficient time for these measures to embed before considering further action.

[Lord Clement-Jones (LD)]

My Lords, there are concerns and some misinformation circulating about VPNs and other aspects of the Act. In this light, is the Minister confident that the Act is still fit for purpose, and that platforms have a clear existing responsibility to prevent children bypassing safety protections? Does all this not mean that Parliament needs an early chance at post-legislative scrutiny of the implementation and operation of the Act to ensure, in particular, that it fulfils its aims of keeping users, particularly children, safe online while preserving free speech for adults?

[Lord Leong (Lab)]

My Lords, the Online Safety Act places very clear duties on platforms to protect children, including tackling methods of circumvention. The use of VPNs to bypass safeguards is a known risk, and platforms must act decisively. They are already required to assess such risks and implement proportionate measures. Ofcom will hold platforms to account. The Act requires Ofcom to produce and publish a report assessing how effective the use of age assurance has been and whether there are factors that prevented or hindered the effective use of age assurance. These will be published by June 2026.