{"id":43059,"date":"2026-03-09T06:04:26","date_gmt":"2026-03-09T06:04:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/?p=43059"},"modified":"2026-03-09T06:04:26","modified_gmt":"2026-03-09T06:04:26","slug":"australians-reach-for-vpns-find-porn-sites-blocked-as-online-age-restrictions-take-effect","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/?p=43059","title":{"rendered":"Australians reach for VPNs, find porn sites blocked as online age-restrictions take effect"},"content":{"rendered":"
Australians \u200bwere downloading virtual private networks (VPNs) in droves, while one of the world’s largest pornography distributors said \u200cit was blocking users as the country rolled out sweeping online age restrictions on Monday.<\/p>\n

Last December, Australia became the first country to impose a nationwide ban on teenagers using social media. A separate law now requires AI-powered chatbot services to keep certain content – including \u200bpornography, extreme violence, self-harm, and eating disorder material – from minors or face fines of up to \u200bA$49.5 million ($34.5 million).<\/p>\n

The country also joined Britain, France and dozens of US states requiring \u2060websites that disseminate pornography to verify users are over 18. App stores must also run age checks before \u200ballowing downloads of software labelled 18+.<\/p>\n

The country’s eSafety Commissioner Julie Inman Grant said the measures aimed to provide children with the same level of protection online as they would expect offline.<\/p>\n

“A child today can’t walk into a bar and order a drink, they can’t stroll into a strip club or browse an adult shop or sit down at a blackjack table in a casino,” she told \u200bthe Australian Broadcasting Corp.<\/p>\n

Read: ChatGPT an accomplice in murder? South Korean case raises questions<\/p>\n

“This just really brings … those protections that we put for kids in place to the \u200bdigital realm.”<\/p>\n

Three of the 15 most downloaded free smartphone apps on Monday were VPNs, a chart published by iPhone maker Apple showed. The \u2060most downloaded VPN, called VPN – Super Unlimited Proxy, ranked ahead of any social media platform, the chart showed.<\/p>\n

VPN – Super Unlimited Proxy did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment. All internet-connected devices carry an individual code which discloses their location, and VPNs hide the user’s location by assigning a new code to the device.<\/p>\n

Canada-based Aylo, \u200bowner of a large network \u200bof pornography websites, meanwhile \u2060blocked Australians from accessing the platforms RedTube and YouPorn, while presenting a version of Pornhub without explicit content.<\/p>\n

All the websites carried a banner saying it was “not currently accepting \u200bnew account registrations in your region”.<\/p>\n

Aylo did not respond to a Reuters request for \u200bcomment. The Sydney \u2060Morning Herald quoted an Aylo spokesperson saying the company’s Australian users would be “presented with a safe-for-work experience when they view our platforms”.<\/p>\n

Tom Sulston, deputy chair of advocacy group Digital Rights Watch, said it was unsurprising that people were reaching \u2060for VPNs.<\/p>\n

“My \u200bhope is that, not only will they discover that this works \u200bfor looking at spicier internet sites, but that it’s just generally a good idea to use VPNs when you’re traversing the internet, because they \u200bdo offer you some privacy protections.”<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Australians \u200bwere downloading virtual private networks (VPNs) in droves, while one of the world’s largest pornography distributors said \u200cit was blocking users as the country rolled out sweeping online age restrictions on Monday. Last December, Australia became the first country to impose a nationwide ban on teenagers using social media. A separate law now requires […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-43059","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-english-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/43059","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=43059"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/43059\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=43059"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=43059"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=43059"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}