UK proposals to ban under-16s from social media and VPNs could erode adult privacy
Feb 27th 2026
Proposed amendments would force age checks across many online services, and legal and digital rights experts say the measures could be ineffective for child safety while exposing adults to new privacy and security risks.
- Amendments to the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill would bar under-16s from broad "user-to-user" services and from using VPNs, definitions that could cover sites like Wikipedia, WhatsApp and forums.
- Experts warn mandatory age verification will push adults to provide personal or biometric data to access everyday services, creating new privacy and security risks and a permanent data trail.
- Tech-savvy young people can already sidestep age checks using VPNs or tricks that fool facial-recognition tools, so bans may not stop access to restricted content.
- The Online Safety Act introduced earlier has already required age checks and coincided with a large drop in UK visits to a leading adult site that experts say likely reflects users spoofing their location.
- Government says it will consult separately on VPN and social media rules, while countries including Australia and the EU are already pursuing similar measures.