EU Calls VPNs a ‘Loophole’ that ‘Needs Closing’ in Age Verification Laws

Earlier this year, the European Union introduced an application to verify the age and identity of citizens using the internet in an effort to keep underage users off social media. Turns out there’s a slight crack in that otherwise foolproof approach to verification: VPNs. Now it appears that the group of nations wants to close that hole.

The European Parliamentary Research Service, part of the European Parliament, has issued a warning about virtual private networks that allow users to bypass age assurance requirements by revealing their location outside the EU, CyberInsider first reported. In a statement, the agency called VPNs “a loophole in the law that needs to be closed.”

The EPRS has no solution to the problem that VPNs provide users with workarounds to age verification laws, although it does recognize that one proposed option would be to make VPNs accessible only to users who are verified to be over 18 – an approach which the Children’s Commissioner for England has called for in the UK.

Instead, the agency mostly admits that VPNs are a real thorn in its side. It found that VPN use increased significantly in places where age-verification requirements were implemented. ProtonVPN, a VPN provider, reported a 1400% increase in new signups after the UK age-assurance law took effect last year. A similar trend unfolded in France when the country closed access to Pornhub to anyone under the age of 18. Basically, when age-verification laws come into effect, people turn to the most popular tools to get around them.

The EU is not the only place that has raised this problem. Earlier this month, a law went into effect in Utah designed to discourage VPN use, declaring that if a person is physically located in Utah, he or she will be considered to be accessing a website from Utah, and will therefore be subject to age-verification requirements. There are significant questions over how enforceable this law will be. In Wisconsin, an age-requirement law that was ultimately vetoed by the governor initially included a ban on VPN use.

It certainly seems that lawmakers are aware that VPNs have become a reliable tool to circumvent their efforts to increase age limits on the Internet. It seems likely that more governing bodies will be looking for ways to restrict access to privacy tools in the near future.

Read more: ‘Death Stranding’ is helping UK users bypass age verification laws