VPN ban update coming tomorrow with Labour set to make announcement

The Labour government will announce a VPN ban and new social media regulations for under-16s tomorrow, including AI chatbot rules and digital age of consent changes. Liz Kendall will update the Commons on the ban, which has drawn criticism from law firm RPC over privacy and proportionality concerns. Government research shows 26% of children have used VPNs, often to bypass age verification and access harmful content.

VPN ban update coming tomorrow with Labour set to make announcement Tomorrow, on Wednesday, July 15, Liz Kendall is expected to make a further statement to the Commons on the social media ban for under-16s. A VPN ban and new regulations update will be issued by the Labour Party https://www.birminghammail.co.uk/all-about/labour-party government tomorrow. Tomorrow, on Wednesday, July 15, Liz Kendall is expected to make a further statement to the Commons on the social media ban for under-16s. It will cover VPN restrictions, AI chatbot rules, the digital age of consent, and curfews/doomscrolling breaks for teens. Ms Kendall previously promised an update in July, and the former Department for Work and Pensions DWP https://www.birminghammail.co.uk/all-about/dwp minister is set to stick to her word. International law firm RPC said ahead of the statement: "Children, including teenagers who are nearly adults, have strong Convention rights. We would expect there to be legal challenges both from children and platforms to any legislation which introduces a blanket ban on teenagers." READ MORE Rachel Reeves' new £240 charge for drivers doing 8,000 miles 'will not work' "There are currently fewer options available to verify age for users under 16, because methods such as email-based age estimation and credit checks are unavailable," it went on. "This is another example of the government's rush to legislate without considering whether what they are asking of the platforms is technically feasible or even necessary. "More thought needs to be given to the impact on adults who will have to prove that they are not children, who will need to upload some form of sensitive personal information to each of the platforms they use, which raises serious privacy concerns. "A blanket ban is disproportionate, disregards the years of collaboration between Ofcom and the tech industry to improve safety for children online, and ignores the extraordinary benefits that social media can bring in terms of education." It comes as the Labour government has published research on Tuesday showing how children are using VPNs and using them to bypass age verification checks, too. It reported: “Around a quarter of children use a VPN, and use rises sharply with age. Nearly 6 in 10 58% have heard of VPNs. A quarter 26% say they have used one in their lifetime and around a fifth 22% have used one in the last 3 months. Lifetime use rises from 17% of 11- to 12-year-olds to 31% of 16- to 17-year-olds.” It said: “VPN users who bypass have a particularly high association with seeing harmful content: 64% of children who used a VPN in their lifetime saw harmful content after bypassing, compared with 43% of those who bypassed but have not used a VPN in their lifetime. "Although there are some age effects behind the proportion of VPN users reporting this, this cannot explain the full extent of the results.” It said its findings could be used to “inform future policy development in this area”.