In my opinion, the government never had the authority to restrict access to online content in the first place. That authority was seized from us and more and more countries are falling into the black hole of censorship. It's the Satanic Panic all over again.
VPNs aren't capable of harming kids. They aren't content and even the usual imagined harms can't be caused by a VPN.
The Gov's entire argument seems to be 'We aren't getting our way".
Imagine if Gov officials cared about Gov officials trading law for favors - like they do about popular hysteria.