Following a wave of criticism, Wisconsin lawmakers have decided not to include a ban on VPN services in their age-verification law, making its way through the state legislature.
Wisconsin Senate Bill 130 (and its sister Assembly Bill 105), introduced in March 2025, aims to prohibit businesses from "publishing or distributing material harmful to minors" unless there is a reasonable "method to verify the age of individuals attempting to access the website."
One provision would have required businesses to bar people from accessing their sites via "a virtual private network system or virtual private network provider."
A VPN lets you access the internet via an encrypted connection, enabling you to bypass firewalls and unblock geographically restricted websites and streaming content. While using a VPN, your IP address and physical location are masked, and your internet service provider doesn't know which websites you visit.
Wisconsin state Sen. Van Wanggaard moved to delete that provision in the legislation, thereby releasing VPNs from any liability. The state assembly agreed to remove the VPN ban, and the bill now awaits Wisconsin Governor Tony Evers's signature.
Rindala Alajaji, associate director of state affairs at the digital freedom nonprofit Electronic Frontier Foundation, says Wisconsin's U-turn is "great news."
"This shows the power of public advocacy and pushback," Alajaji says. "Politicians heard the VPN users who shared their worries and fears, and the experts who explained how the ban wouldn't work."
Earlier this week, the EFF had written an open letter arguing that the draft laws did not "meaningfully advance the goal of keeping young people safe online." The EFF said that blocking VPNs would harm many groups that rely on that software for private and secure internet connections, including "businesses, universities, journalists and ordinary citizens," and that "many law enforcement professionals, veterans and small business owners rely on VPNs to safely use the internet."
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VPNs can also help you get around age-verification laws -- for instance, if you live in a state or country that requires age verification to access certain material, you can use a VPN to make it look like you live elsewhere, thereby gaining access to that material. As age-restriction laws increase around the US, VPN use has also increased. However, many people are using free VPNs, which are fertile ground for cybercriminals.
In its letter to Wisconsin lawmakers prior to the reversal, the EFF argued that it is "unworkable" to require websites to block VPN users from accessing adult content. The EFF said such sites cannot "reliably determine" where a VPN customer lives -- it could be any US state or even other countries.
"As a result, covered websites would face an impossible choice: either block all VPN users everywhere, disrupting access for millions of people nationwide, or cease offering services in Wisconsin altogether," the EFF wrote.
Wisconsin is not the only state to consider VPN bans to prevent access to adult material. Last year, Michigan introduced the Anticorruption of Public Morals Act, which would ban all use of VPNs. If passed, it would force ISPs to detect and block VPN usage and also ban the sale of VPNs in the state. Fines could reach $500,000.