{"id":257709,"date":"2026-05-28T04:48:00","date_gmt":"2026-05-28T08:48:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/news-you-need.com\/index.php\/2026\/05\/28\/vpns-are-not-a-threat-industry-hopes-for-an-evidence-based-outcome-to-uk-online-safety-consultation\/"},"modified":"2026-05-28T08:50:18","modified_gmt":"2026-05-28T12:50:18","slug":"vpns-are-not-a-threat-industry-hopes-for-an-evidence-based-outcome-to-uk-online-safety-consultation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news-you-need.com\/index.php\/2026\/05\/28\/vpns-are-not-a-threat-industry-hopes-for-an-evidence-based-outcome-to-uk-online-safety-consultation\/","title":{"rendered":"VPNs are not a ‘threat’ \u2014 industry hopes for an evidence-based outcome to UK online safety consultation"},"content":{"rendered":"

VPNs are not a ‘threat’ \u2014 industry hopes for an evidence-based outcome to UK online safety consultation<\/a><\/p>\n

https:\/\/www.techradar.com\/vpn\/vpn-privacy-security\/vpns-are-not-a-threat-industry-hopes-for-an-evidence-based-outcome-to-uk-online-safety-consultation<\/a><\/p>\n

Publish Date: 2026-05-28 04:48:00<\/a><\/p>\n

Source Domain: www.techradar.com<\/a><\/p>\n

VPN companies are eagerly waiting to hear the government’s plan for VPN access in the UK following the close of the online safety consultation.<\/p>\n

The Department for Science, Innovation & Technology (DSIT) launched the “Growing up in the online world” national consultation back in March with a clear goal \u2014 gathering evidence and views from parents, organizations, and the wider public on how to make the internet safer for children and teens.<\/p>\n

Lawmakers made the stakes clear from the start, noting that VPNs could face age restrictions if the consultation concludes that these tools undermine online safety protections.<\/p>\n


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With the findings now imminent, TechRadar spoke to leading VPN providers about what could come next.<\/p>\n

VPNs aren’t a threat<\/h2>\n

\n

(Image credit: Getty Images)<\/span><\/p>\n

VPNs have multiple functions. While they primarily improve a user’s digital privacy and security online, they can also circumvent age restrictions by masking a device’s IP address.<\/p>\n

Surfshark \u2014 one of the best cheap VPNs available \u2014 recently contributed to a coordinated statement urging the UK government to consider VPNs’ multifaceted purposes.<\/p>\n

“Treating VPNs as a ‘loophole’ misunderstands their role and risks reducing online safety for the very users these proposals are meant to protect,” a Surfshark spokesperson told TechRadar.<\/p>\n

“While we support efforts to protect children online, targeting tools that are essential for online security is a flawed approach.”<\/p>\n

Both Surfshark and NordVPN point out that their services are already off-limits for children, meaning government-mandated age restrictions would primarily impact adult users instead.<\/p>\n

That’s why NordVPN Privacy Advocate, Laura Tyrylyt\u0117, believes lawmakers should draw a clear distinction between trustworthy and unreliable VPN services.<\/p>\n


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“The government could work with industry to develop formal guidance on what ethical, secure VPN…<\/p>\n

Source<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

VPNs are not a ‘threat’ \u2014 industry hopes for an evidence-based outcome to UK online…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":257712,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net\/koW7vxxLALzS7hdCx6HC6g-1987-80.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[16],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-257709","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-privacy"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/257709"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=257709"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/257709\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":257713,"href":"https:\/\/news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/257709\/revisions\/257713"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/257712"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=257709"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=257709"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=257709"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}