The Free Speech Union is demanding the Government rule
out any ban or restriction on Virtual Private Networks
(VPNs) today, after The Post revealed the option is being
considered as part of the under-16 social media
ban.
“Education Minister Erica Stanford is
reportedly looking at banning or restricting VPNs in the
legislation now being drafted. Nothing has gone to Cabinet,
so there is still time to kill the idea before it reaches a
bill.
“Chief Executive Jillaine Heather says a VPN
ban would be the most significant expansion of state control
over online speech and digital freedom in New Zealand’s
history.
“The Government wants the power to prohibit
technologies New Zealanders use every day, because those
technologies make it harder for the state to control what we
see and say online. That is not child protection, it is
censorship infrastructure.”
“There is a reason the
only countries that ban VPNs are China, Russia, Iran, North
Korea and Belarus. Privacy tools are the first thing an
authoritarian state comes for. New Zealand should not be
auditioning to join that list to enforce a ban that is
already failing.”
VPNs allow journalists to protect
confidential sources, whistleblowers and abuse survivors to
communicate safely, businesses to secure commercial
information, and lawyers to speak with their clients.
Ordinary New Zealanders rely on them every day.
“If
citizens remain free to use VPNs, it is much harder for the
state to control what they read, watch, and say. That is why
governments that want more control over speech always come
for these tools first.”
Advertisement – scroll to continue reading
“For a year the Government
has told us this ban was about keeping children safe. A VPN
ban gives the game away. You do not need to control what
adults do online to protect a 14-year-old.”
The Free
Speech Union says the proposal will not even achieve its
stated purpose. Australian teenagers are already running
rings around that country’s ban, faking their way past age
checks or using VPNs to appear offshore.
“The
Australian ban is failing, and our Government’s answer is
apparently to reach for the censorship tools of the
world’s most repressive regimes. Every New Zealander
should be alarmed by that instinct.”
“We warned
this is where the ban would lead. The select committee
flagged VPN restrictions months ago, and officials were
building the enforcement machinery before Parliament had
even seen a bill. None of this is an
accident.”
“Free societies do not ban the tools
that make free communication
possible.”
Notes:
The Post
reported on 7 July 2026 that the Government is considering
banning or restricting VPNs as part of the proposed under-16
social media ban: https://www.thepost.co.nz/politics/361038645/oppressive-government-looks-vpn-ban-or-restrictions-part-under-16-social-media-ban
The
Education and Workforce Select Committee’s majority report
acknowledged “well-founded concern that age restrictions
on social media could be evaded by young people using
VPNs” and recommended this as “an area for further
exploration by the regulator”.
The Free Speech Union
has raised concerns about the enforcement architecture of
the under-16 ban since April 2026, when the Department of
Internal Affairs advertised for a Programme Implementation
Director before any bill had been
introduced.
