Is Tor legal in the UK? What the law says

As of November 2026, using Tor is legal in the UK. The National Crime Agency’s CEOP Education team says using the Tor browser isn’t illegal, and nor is accessing the dark web in itself. Using either to commit a crime is.^[1]

UK law does give the authorities powers worth knowing about, and Tor’s protection has limits. Below: what stays illegal, what your internet provider can be required to keep, where the Online Safety Act fits, and what to know before running a relay. For how Tor works, start with What is Tor Browser?

Is Tor illegal in the UK?

No. What matters is what you do with it. CEOP Education’s guide for professionals gives examples of what stays illegal over Tor or the dark web: buying or selling illegal items, promoting terrorism, and accessing indecent material, including images of child sexual abuse.^[1]

The same guide is clear that Tor isn’t the dark web. It can be used to browse the ordinary web too, and journalists, researchers and everyday users rely on it to protect their privacy. Some onion services, the sites reachable only through Tor, exist for legitimate purposes such as whistleblowing.^[1]

The National Crime Agency (NCA) tracks how offenders use Tor. Its 2026 national strategic assessment says Tor remained the main way offenders reached the dark web in 2025: to buy and sell illicit goods and services, to network with each other, and to view and swap child sexual abuse material. It also judges it highly likely that offenders used Tor less in 2025, because easier mainstream platforms, many now end-to-end encrypted as standard, reduced their reliance on the dark web.^[2]

Such cases end up in court. The same assessment reports that in November 2025 a Norfolk man was jailed for six and a half years for running a dark-web marketplace from his home, which he used to supply controlled drugs for several years.^[2]

What can UK internet providers be required to keep?

The Investigatory Powers Act 2016 lets the Secretary of State issue a “retention notice” requiring a telecoms operator to keep communications data, once a Judicial Commissioner has approved it. The data can be kept for up to 12 months, and it expressly includes internet connection records (ICRs). Since October 2024, after changes made by the Investigatory Powers (Amendment) Act 2024, a notice lapses after two years unless it is renewed or varied.^[3]

An ICR is a record of which service a device connected to, not of what was done there. In the Home Office’s examples, a record can show a visit to a search engine but not what was searched for, or a visit to a website but not the articles that were read.^[4]

Can my internet provider see that I use Tor?

Yes, by default. Tor tries to stop anyone watching your connection from learning which websites you visit, but it doesn’t hide the fact that you’re using Tor.^[5]

You can make your Tor use harder to spot. The Tor Project says you can reduce that risk by configuring Tor to use a bridge instead of connecting to the Tor network directly.^[5] Our Tor Browser guide explains how bridges work.

Is Tor safe to use in the UK?

Legally, yes: using it isn’t an offence.^[1] Technically, its protection has limits that the Tor Project spells out. It doesn’t cover all of your computer’s internet traffic, only what goes through Tor. If you sign in to a website, the site doesn’t learn your location, but it does know who you are. A document you download and then open outside Tor can reveal your real IP address. And using BitTorrent over Tor is never safe.^[5]

UK authorities also have powers aimed at devices rather than connections. The Investigatory Powers Act allows targeted “equipment interference” warrants, which authorise interfering with equipment, such as computers and phones, to obtain communications and other information.^[6]

Does the Online Safety Act affect Tor?

The Online Safety Act 2023 places duties on online services: social media, search engines, video-sharing sites, forums, dating services, messaging apps and similar, including companies based outside the UK that have links to it. Ofcom, the independent regulator, enforces them. The offences the Act created for individuals, in force since 31 January 2024, cover things such as cyberflashing, threatening communications and intimate image abuse.^[7]

Much of the debate about getting round age checks has focused on VPNs. In July 2026, setting out plans to keep under-16s off social media from 2027, the government said it would not ban or age-gate VPNs. It said the services covered must take robust steps to stop under-16s getting round the new rules, and asked Ofcom to research how services can detect VPN traffic.^[8]

The same response noted that children typically get round age checks with less sophisticated methods, and that VPNs are mainly used for security and privacy. It doesn’t mention Tor.^[8]

Can I run a Tor relay in the UK?

People do. Relays are the volunteer-run servers that carry Tor traffic, and the Tor Project’s list of relay associations, groups dedicated to running them, includes two in the UK: BrassHorn Communications and quetzalcoatl-relays.^[9]

We found no UK-specific legal guidance for operators. The Tor Project’s guidelines for exit relays, the last hop whose address websites see, tell operators to learn which laws in their country shield communication services from liability, and name the relevant laws for the US and Germany but not the UK. They also suggest asking your internet provider before you start, using dedicated IP addresses, publishing a web page that explains the relay, and answering abuse complaints promptly and professionally.^[10]

Laws differ from country to country. Compare whether Tor is legal in the US and in Germany, or see our country-by-country guide. If you’ll use Tor on a phone, start with Tor on iPhone and Android.