New Zealand's government has officially ruled out banning or restricting VPNs as part of its planned under-16 social media ban. Prime Minister Christopher Luxon and Education Minister Erica Stanford denied the idea after a swift privacy backlash, following reports that VPN restrictions had been floated to enforce age checks. Coalition partner NZ First had warned an early proposal could have led to VPN limits and digital IDs, while ACT treated any anti-encryption measure as a red line. The episode reflects a global tension: as countries from the UK to the EU and Australia push age-gating laws, VPNs keep emerging as both an enforcement loophole and a tool regulators are reluctant to ban outright, given their legitimate use by businesses, journalists, and privacy-conscious individuals.
