The EU isn't launching a full-scale ban on VPNs yet, but there's a clear and accelerating push to treat them as a problem in the context of child protection online. This stems from the rapid rise in VPN usage as people (especially minors) bypass mandatory age verification systems for porn sites, social media restrictions, and other age-gated content. The pattern mirrors what's happened in the UK and Australia, where age checks led to massive spikes in VPN downloads — and now regulators are turning their attention to closing that "loophole."
What's Actually Happening
The core trigger is the Digital Services Act (DSA), which requires platforms to implement "appropriate and proportionate" measures to protect minors, including age assurance for high-risk content. The European Commission released blueprints and guidelines in 2025 for privacy-preserving age verification (e.g., proving you're over 18 without sharing extra data), tied to things like the upcoming EU Digital Identity Wallet rolling in 2026.
But when countries enforce these rules — France with its under-15 social media ban (effective steps toward enforcement by 2026), Italy requiring age checks on porn sites, and similar moves in Spain, Denmark, and others — kids just switch to VPNs to mask their location or appear elsewhere. A January 2026 European Parliamentary Research Service (EPRS) briefing explicitly notes this "significant surge" in VPN use to bypass age verification, and it floats the idea that access to VPN services should be restricted to users above a "digital age of majority" (often floated around 16).
French Minister Delegate for Digital Affairs Anne Le Hénanff was blunt: "VPNs are the next topic on my list" after pushing social media restrictions. That's not isolated — it's part of a broader EU conversation where child-safety campaigners argue VPNs enable circumvention, while privacy advocates warn that regulating them threatens anonymity for everyone (journalists, dissidents, everyday users avoiding surveillance).
Related developments include:
Potential child-safety criteria in the revised Cybersecurity Act (consultations wrapped in 2025, drafts expected soon) to prevent "misuse" of tools like VPNs.
Broader scrutiny of privacy tools under ongoing DSA investigations and national laws.
No outright EU-wide VPN ban proposal exists yet, but the rhetoric frames unrestricted VPN access as incompatible with effective child protection.
This fits a pattern of escalating online control: start with porn sites (age checks → blocks in some countries), expand to social media (under-15/16 bans in multiple member states), then target the tools people use to evade it all. It's not "manic censorship" in the sense of banning speech outright, but it is a determined rampage against anonymity-enabling tech under the banner of protecting kids.
What Can You Do About It?
If you're in the EU (or care about global precedents), options are limited but not zero — the push is still in the discussion/early proposal stage, not fully law:
1.Use VPNs while you can — Many reputable no-logs providers (based outside the EU where possible) still work fine for bypassing geo-restrictions or basic checks. But if age verification gets mandated on VPN sign-ups or apps (as some are suggesting), that could change.
2.Support privacy advocacy — Groups like the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF), Privacy International, or EU-focused orgs are pushing back hard against mandatory age/ID checks and VPN restrictions. They highlight how these systems create massive databases ripe for breaches and erode encryption/privacy tools.
3.Switch to decentralised/alternative tools — Tor (slower but stronger anonymity), proxy chains, or emerging privacy-focused networks can sometimes fill gaps if VPNs get hit. But these aren't perfect and can draw scrutiny too.
4.Engage politically — Comment on public consultations (like the Cybersecurity Act ones), contact MEPs, or support petitions. The EU Parliament has passed resolutions pushing for a 16+ digital age limit, but civil liberties concerns can still sway outcomes.
5.Prepare for fragmentation — Worst case, you get national-level rules (e.g., France leading on VPN scrutiny), making life messier for cross-border use. Some predict a shift toward "digital ID wallets" as the "solution," where proving age becomes normalised for more services.
In short, the EU's direction is toward more surveillance and less anonymity in the name of child safety, with VPNs squarely in the crosshairs as the obvious evasion method. It's not a full "ban" today, but the momentum is real and building fast. And, what the globalist censorship regime do in Europe will come to Australia next.
https://reclaimthenet.org/eu-targets-vpns-as-age-checks-expand