Children: Age Verification and Virtual Private Networks

Question

Asked by

To ask His Majesty’s Government what measures have been put in place to prevent children using virtual private networks to avoid age verification to access harmful material online.

The Online Safety Act requires services to use highly effective age assurance to prevent children in the UK from encountering harmful content. Ofcom’s guidance makes it clear that age assurance must be robust to prevent circumvention. Services must also take steps to mitigate against circumvention methods that are easily accessible to children. Providers that do not comply with their child safety duties by deliberately promoting the use of VPNs could face enforcement action under the Act.

I thank the Minister for that Answer. However, Childnet has discovered an increase in the use of VPNs by children in the last three months. While younger children are deterred by age-verification checks, teenagers actively seek out and share methods to circumvent them. Many minors are downloading free VPN applications that often monetise user data and expose devices to viruses. Also, by relocating to countries with few or no internet safety laws, children can be exposed to more extreme, illegal or unmoderated content. Perhaps children under 16 should be banned from social media altogether. What action will the Government take to address the increasing number of children using VPNs? Will they instruct Ofcom to follow the lead of the Australian e-safety commissioner and require that digital services check VPN traffic for technical and behavioural red flags that suggest a user in the UK may be a child? Let us act sooner rather than later.

We recognise the international efforts to better protect children online, including in Australia, and we are working with the Australian Government to understand the impact of their policies, including that one. There is currently limited evidence on how many children use VPNs, and the Government are addressing this evidence gap. We welcome any further evidence in this area, such as that quoted by the noble Baroness, Lady Benjamin, to complement our understanding. The Government will ensure that we act where we need to, as we have seen in other areas, and that future interventions are proportionate and evidence based.

My Lords, this is a complex and difficult area. I often praise the work of Ofcom in implementing the Online Safety Act, and everyone thinks I am applying to be the chair of Ofcom: I am not. I do however think that the suggestion of the noble Baroness, Lady Benjamin, is a very interesting one. A lot of research needs to be done, and it would be interesting to see the VPN research. There is another huge gap in researching the technology used in our schools by edtech providers, and in providing some kind of quality framework to ensure that this technology—how it collects our children’s data, and so on—is at least transparent and known about, so that requisite action can be taken in the future.

The noble Lord makes a very good point about the need for accurate, evidence-based research that allows us to take the right action. As noble Lords may have seen, Ofcom published a report this morning setting out a number of methods for researching, for example, the use of VPNs by children. We should also examine technological solutions, as well as advice and guidance, and the role of Ofcom in enforcing the requirements of the Online Safety Act.

My Lords, while it is of course important that platforms maintain the standards Ofcom has set for them, does my noble friend the Minister also agree that parents have an important role to play in all of this to make sure that the parental controls on devices are implemented in full? Is there not more of a role for digital literacy for adults, to make sure they are keeping a proper eye on what their children are doing and that they comply with the regulations?

My noble friend makes a very important point about the role of all of us in using the technology available to protect ourselves and to equip ourselves to be safe online, and for parents to do that in respect of their children. It is also very important that the Government support literacy campaigns, both for digital skills and online safety. The Government will play their part in supporting parents in that domain.

On the Radio 4 “Today” programme this morning, Ofcom admitted that none of the three fines levied so far has been paid. Is it not right that Ofcom should be encouraged to take much stronger enforcement action against those who do not pay by making it clear that within a very short time, they will lose their right to appear on any screen in the United Kingdom unless their enforcement is fit for purpose?

I think we all agree that enforcement is an incredibly important part of the Online Safety Act. Ofcom’s enforcement powers include fines of up to £18 million, or 10% of qualifying worldwide revenue. The Government have been very clear to Ofcom that it has our full backing to take enforcement action. We are standing right behind it to do that as effectively as possible.

My Lords, the Minister says that the Government are standing right behind Ofcom. Many of us very strongly support Ofcom’s actions in fining those such as the AVS Group for not observing proper age checks on their sites. But, as the noble Lord, Lord Carlile, indicates, there is no point in having fines unless we have proper enforcement. What resource are the Government satisfied Ofcom has to pursue enforcement?

We have ensured that Ofcom is resourced to implement its online safety duties and have increased the amount available to it year on year; its budget is, I think, £92 million to support all its Online Safety Act responsibilities. We believe that it has the resources it needs to effectively implement and supervise the Online Safety Act.

Following on from noble Lords’ comments, to me it is quite clear that Ofcom has a lot of the powers necessary to restrict underage usage but seems to lack the will. That was abundantly clear from the Radio 4 interview this morning. My experience in such matters is that the Ofcom leadership really needs to understand the strength of feeling in this House and Parliament as a whole—that they need to be more robust in enforcement. Will the Minister agree to arrange a meeting with the Ofcom CEO and key Lords here today so that we can fully hold Ofcom to account on this?

The noble Lord makes an important point about the strength of feeling here, which was replicated in the discussions yesterday in the Select Committee. I am very happy to take forward his request to set up a meeting with Ofcom.

My Lords, given the Church of England’s role in education, I welcome the age limits introduced for harmful material sites. However, it is very hard to police the use of VPNs, and thus education is likely to be needed in a great deal of cases, as well as enforcement. What role will Ofsted’s new framework play in ensuring that statutory relationships, sex and health education is delivered effectively with regard to this matter?