ExpressVPN, Surfshark, NordVPN, and Windscribe – four of the biggest VPN brands operating in the UK today — have publicly confirmed that they’re willing to engage with the UK Government on its upcoming three-month consultation on child safety online. The consultation with Number 10 will look at social media use and what ministers are calling “excessive doomscrolling,” but VPNs are firmly on the agenda too.
It comes after the House of Lords put forward a controversial amendement to the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill that would force VPNs to implement age-checks. This would effectively ban VPNs for those under the age of 18.
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The Labour Government opposed the amendment, so the amendment isn’t expected to survive its next trip through the House of Commons. During the extensive consultation, ministers want to hear feedback from parents, technology firms, and children about the role of VPNs.
Surfshark Head of Legal, Gytis Malinauskas, told Techradar it’s “always open to constructive conversations with policymakers,” while a NordVPN spokesperson said it was “open to meaningful dialogue”.
A spokesperson for ExpressVPN also confirmed that it would be “open to constructive conversations” with the UK Government.
Windscribe CEO Yegor Sak said: “We’re willing to speak to them and educate them on the errors of their ways.”
The outspoken executive previously described the push for age-checks on VPNs as “the dumbest possible fix” for online safety concerns. It’s not just the VPN industry that’s up-in-arms about the solution proposed by the House of Lords, with Wikipedia co-founder Jimmy Wales calling it “an embarrassment” on X, formerly Twitter.
“For child safety, we should be teaching children about Internet safety – including why you should use a VPN to protect your privacy, block malware, etc. To keep children safe, we are legislating to prevent them being safer online? Mad,” the post on X concludes.
There’s already an online petition calling on the Government to reject any proposals that block access to VPNs.