Starting Monday, Australians facing porn banned in aus are increasingly turning to virtual private network apps to regain access after major adult sites began blocking Australian users. Monday at 9: 14 a. m. ET, Proton VPN, NordVPN and VPN Super Unlimited Proxy jumped up the Australian app charts after sites started applying new age-verification blocks tied to online safety codes.
VPN Super Unlimited Proxy, Proton VPN and NordVPN Lead App Surge
Sensor Tower data show VPN Super Unlimited Proxy leapt from 40th to 7th place in free iPhone apps in Australia, while Proton VPN moved from 174th to 19th and NordVPN rose from 189th to 13th as of Sunday; those jumps reflect users seeking tools that can make a device appear to be outside Australia. VPN apps allow a user’s location to appear as somewhere other than where they reside, enabling access to sites that have begun restricting Australian IP addresses.
Porn Banned In Aus Prompts Age Verification Across Adult Sites
On Friday, Aylo-owned sites including RedTube, YouPorn and Tube8 displayed notices to Australian visitors that they were “not currently accepting new account registrations in your region, ” and Pornhub limited its home page to safe-for-work content for users who had not logged in; those actions coincide with codes that require age verification for users attempting to access pornography, extremely violent material or self-harm content. The online safety rules extend to a range of services — including AI companion chatbots and app stores — and the Australian online safety regulator has warned platforms not in compliance could face fines of up to $49. 5 million for each breach.
eSafety Commissioner Julie Inman Grant, X and Electronic Frontiers Australia React
The eSafety commissioner, Julie Inman Grant, told’s RN Breakfast that platforms carrying R18 or X+ content must be verifying user ages and that a simple toggle asking “Are you over 18?” will no longer pass muster; that stance has coincided with reports that one social platform has asked Australian users to verify their age each time they view a post containing adult content and that an AI assistant, Grok, has blocked generation of restricted content until an age check is completed. Electronic Frontiers Australia chair John Pane said the boost in VPN downloads was expected.
What could reverse or accelerate the VPN spike is enforcement by the Australian online safety regulator: if the regulator begins levying the fines it warned about, VPN downloads could climb further within days as users seek workarounds; enforcement actions by the regulator are the next named development in the rollout of the age-verification codes.
