UK’s child social ban may backfire via VPNs

UK child – The United Kingdom is moving toward a ban on social media for children under 16, with Prime Minister Keir Starmer arguing it will “give children back their childhoods.” But cybersecurity experts warn that the most common workaround—free VPN apps—could expose m

For a lot of children. social media isn’t a website—it’s where friends are. where trends move. and where boredom turns into a scroll. Now. across the United Kingdom. those habits are being met with a hard line: a proposed ban on social media access for children under 16. announced by Prime Minister Keir Starmer on Monday.

Starmer framed it as protection and restoration. “Children will be given back their childhoods thanks to government action,” he said. The plan is explicitly aimed at major platforms: Snapchat, TikTok, YouTube, Instagram, Facebook and X.

But in the same breath, the policy runs into a question that’s already familiar to anyone who has watched governments and technology clash: if access is blocked, how exactly does it get worked around—and at what cost?

The government says the goal is to prevent harm. Research has found that overuse of social media and phones negatively affects children. and Starmer argued the ban is necessary to protect them from harmful content. He also said his government is prepared to confront big tech companies that resist the changes.

The U.K. isn’t acting alone. The proposal follows Australia’s lead, where social media was banned for children in December. Other countries—Canada, Brazil and Indonesia—have introduced legislation or age-based restrictions.

During the U.K.’s public consultation phase, the government received more than 116,000 responses. More than 90% supported restrictions on children under 16. And Starmer says the measures are meant to go beyond a simple cutoff. He is planning to expand restrictions to limit contact with children and adults they don’t know on gaming and livestreaming platforms—an approach he described as “a much more comprehensive model than just a blanket ban on social media.”.

Still, the hardest part of a ban is not announcing it. It’s enforcing it.

Because children have ways around restrictions—and data from other countries shows how quickly they adjust.

In Australia. an eSafety commissioner survey of nearly 900 Australian parents found that about 70% of children with social media accounts before the Dec. 10 ban maintained those accounts after the ban took effect. The commissioner also said there are fewer under-16s with social media accounts than there were four months ago. but “significant numbers of children aged under 16 are still on social media.”.

The eSafety commissioner added that authorities have not started fining social media companies for flouting the ban. The commissioner said it has investigations open into Snapchat, TikTok, Facebook, Instagram and YouTube.

One of the easiest routes around a social media ban is a VPN: virtual private network apps that can hide a user’s IP address. With a VPN on a phone or another device. a child can appear as though they’re not located in Australia or the U.K. potentially allowing access to social media sites and apps.

That’s where cybersecurity experts’ warnings turn the policy debate from abstract to immediate.

Some cybersecurity researchers say the most obvious workaround—free VPN apps—could expose children to threats more immediate than scrolling on TikTok. Researchers have found that some VPN providers track what a user does online. More alarming, a study by cybersecurity researchers found that 38% of VPN applications contained code linked to adware or malware. Other studies found the figure to be closer to about 10%.

Adware, the research defines, is software that displays unwanted ads on a person’s device. Malware is described as software that disrupts or gains access to the device.

For U.K. lawmakers, the risk isn’t just that children might keep using social media anyway. It’s that they might do so through tools that introduce new vulnerabilities.

The next stage is enforcement—and it’s not fully settled.

As the U.K. prepares to pass its social media ban, questions remain over how it would be implemented. Age verification would likely rely on methods such as ID checks, facial scanning or bank card verification. But the key responsibility point is blunt: social media platforms would be responsible for enforcement, not the government.

In Australia, where a ban is already in place, the eSafety commissioner issued guidance telling platforms they were expected to stop users from using VPNs. When TechRadar asked how companies could do that, Australian officials declined to comment.

That leaves a tight knot of uncertainty for the U.K.: what happens when children bypass the rule, and what happens to them after they do?

The timeline is also still moving. It’s unclear whether the U.K.’s ban will even take effect by next spring. Legislators are pushing for it to be put to a vote in the next few months. Tech Secretary Liz Kendall said Monday she wants a vote on it by the end of the year. and she wants it to come into force as early as possible in the first couple of months of 2027.

Even that could slip. Tech companies could choose to challenge the law in court through judicial review, the BBC reports. The reporting also includes a legal explanation from Giulia Carloni. a senior associate at Winston Taylor law firm: “Whilst primary legislation is effectively immune from challenge. secondary legislation is subject to review by the courts as it lacks the rigorous multi-stage scrutiny required for statutes.”.

So the U.K. is pushing toward a policy meant to shield children from online harm—while the most common escape route may lead them into a different kind of danger. For now. the debate sits between two realities: kids will search for ways around limits. and technology can make those workarounds riskier than anyone wants to admit.

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