How no one saw this coming is beyond me. In 2025, Australia passed a law that would ban anyone under 16 from social media. Facebook, Instagram, Kick, Reddit among others were required to verify users ages. Anyone under 16 would have their account deleted. As a result, The Guardian reports that PornHub is displaying only safe-for-work content on its home page for users who are not logged in. According to TechSpot, searches for VPN on mobile devices went through the roof on Monday.
According to Sensor Tower, “VPN Super Unlimited Proxy moved from 40th place to 7th, Proton VPN moved from 174th to 19th, and NordVPN went from 189th to 13th” on the Australian free iPhone app chart. People in the land down under should’ve have seen that coming.
Arizona saw it when they banned Pornhub and sporadic porn sites. As someone who just moved to Arizona from California, not every porn site is blocked or requires age verification. Of course, I won’t mention who they are because I don’t wish to use my VPN when visiting.
I used Proton VPN’s paid option in the beginning. I selected my old Los Angeles location and it worked like a charm. However, after learning that some sites weren’t blocked or required verification, I have opted for their fee tier. The downside is that you don’t get to select the location. One day, I used it and it sent my location to Texas, which has the same law.
Fortunately, I was able to change it and it sent me to The Netherlands.
Australia Search for VPN is Only the Beginning
Texas suffered the same thing when they chose to force Pornhub to age verify. Like in Arizona, instead of complying, they chose to block anyone from a Texas or Arizona IP. Not only is it a stupid law, people have found workarounds for many of these. YouTube started spot checking accounts for underage use. That was all based on your viewing history with the help of AI.
Living in Los Angeles, I never used a VPN. I never believed that it would protect me from anything. It doesn’t. Much of what VPNs do is somewhat mask things, but it doesn’t do half of what it promises. I forgot about Arizona’s porn law until after I moved here.
These age verification laws are not about kids. It isn’t about their mental health. Never was it about their safety. It is about the government requiring companies to find out who is using their service. Much of this is susceptible to breaches and personal information on the net.
On top of that, companies like Pornhub and Rockstar (in regards to Australia) are required to work with third-party companies to store your data. Much of which will require a government-issue photo ID. When politicians make claims like “if you have nothing to hide then show us.” I say, “you first. Show us that browsing history.” See how quick that conversation turns.
The Australian law requires companies to “verify their age when playing R18+ online games (including GTA Online), pornography websites, explicit chatbots, and other services.” We already seen the backlash with Discord when they announced using age-verification.
I don’t believe a lot of people when they cry about privacy actually understand it. If they did, then they wouldn’t have an iPhone, Android, or Samsung device.