Denmark is often seen as a beacon of freedom, and for years, the answer to “Is VPN legal in Denmark?” was a simple “Yes.” But for a few tense days in December 2025, that certainty vanished.
The Danish Ministry of Culture had introduced a bill framed as a routine copyright update—a “modest” measure to stop people from streaming football matches without paying. But hidden in the fine print was language that effectively criminalized the use of a VPN in Denmark, along with other tools used to protect online privacy.
Following an immense public outcry and backlash from privacy advocates, the government has blinked. According to recent reports, Culture Minister Jakob Engel-Schmidt has announced that the controversial wording explicitly targeting VPNs will be removed from the draft.
But don’t cancel your subscription just yet.
While the specific acronym “VPN” is being scrubbed from the text, the underlying intent remains. This wasn’t just a drafting error; it was a trial balloon. The victory is real, but the danger hasn’t disappeared—it’s still hiding in the details.
The “Tech-Neutral” Trap: Why the Danger Lingers
The government’s retreat is a tactical one. The Minister called the concerns “fake news” before ultimately agreeing to change the text. But we need to look at what remains. The core philosophy of the bill was to be “tech-neutral.”
What does that actually mean?
In the past, Denmark’s piracy laws targeted the distributors—the shady websites hosting illegal streams. This new legislation is different. It attempts to target the viewer and their tools. Even without the word “VPN,” the law still bans “technical solutions” used to gain “unauthorized access,” so the net is still cast incredibly wide.
For example, if you use a browser with built-in privacy tools that inadvertently bypasses a geoblock, are you a criminal? And what about VPNs? They still fall under that category. If the wording remains vague, the answer is still murky.
Consider recent survey results from the Danish Chamber of Commerce, which indicate that 38% of Danes aged 15–74 have ever streamed or downloaded content illegally, and 9% used a VPN to access restricted content. The scale of the impact cannot be overstated.
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We have seen this pattern before: when authorities can’t stop the signal, they try to criminalize the receiver. So removing the word “VPN” may be a PR win, but if the law still penalizes the act of circumvention using any tool, the liability still shifts from pirate sites to us—the users.
Guilty Until Proven Innocent
The enforcement nightmare here is obvious, and it remains a valid concern for any future iterations of this bill. Because if you want to catch someone bypassing a geoblock, you have to monitor all encrypted traffic.
The advertised goal of the draft is to stop piracy. But how can internet service providers (ISPs) distinguish between a user connecting to a corporate server in London and a user connecting to a server to stream a movie?
TL;DR: They don’t. Because that’s the whole point.
Can ISPs see through the VPN? No, they cannot see the content of the encrypted tunnel. What can ISPs see? They can only see that you are using a VPN, the time you connected, and the amount of data transferred.
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That said, to enforce the original vision of this law, Denmark would have needed to force ISPs to block VPN protocols entirely or require deep packet inspection (DPI) to sniff out such “unauthorized” connections. However, major VPNs can often circumvent DPI, meaning this approach primarily succeeds in forcing a “guilty until proven innocent” model onto the Danish internet.
While Culture Minister Jakob Engel-Schmidt has defended the bill, insisting it targets only illegal acts, the technical reality contradicts him. You cannot selectively ban “bad” VPN traffic without breaking the encryption that protects “good” traffic—like online banking or remote work.
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The European Domino Effect
The stakes are higher than just Danish football rights. Rights holders across the EU are pushing for a model where “unauthorized access” becomes the standard for illegality. And if Denmark had succeeded without resistance, France, Germany, and the UK could have been next.
While the answer to “Is VPN legal in Europe?” was once obvious, now we see European nations flirting with the idea of making your physical location a digital prison cell. Suddenly, the “splinternet”—a term once used to refer to China or Russia walling off their internet—is now happening in Europe under the guise of copyright protection.
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This U-turn in Denmark proves that public pressure works. It proves that users are willing to fight for their digital rights. But even though the government backed down this time, this is not the end. In a legal environment this hostile, a reputable VPN with a strict no-logs policy may be just the right tool to protect your privacy.
🧠 Also read: Digital ID and VPNs: How Privacy Fears Reshape Online Behavior
FAQs
Is VPN legal in Denmark?
Yes. Following the government’s retraction of the specific wording, the Denmark VPN landscape remains legal for general privacy and security. The immediate threat of criminalization has been paused, but the bill is still being reworked.
How can the government tell if I’m bypassing a geoblock?
They can’t easily see what you are watching. Can ISPs see what sites I visit when I use a VPN? No. Can ISPs see your search history? No. Can ISPs see what you download? No. However, they can see that you are sending encrypted data to a VPN server. If they coordinate with streaming platforms, they can infer activity based on traffic patterns, though this is difficult to prove in court without invasive monitoring.
Will this law affect tourists visiting Denmark?
It applies to anyone within the jurisdiction. If you are a tourist using a VPN in Denmark to access content back home that is technically blocked there, you could theoretically fall under this law, though enforcement against tourists is unlikely to be a priority.
Does this law apply to business VPNs?
The Minister claims it does not. However, “tech-neutral” laws rarely distinguish well between a corporate encrypted tunnel and a private consumer one.
