The new Florida law HB3 will disrupt the browsing habits of millions of Internet users. Faced with the obligation to provide an identity document to access adult content, Pornhub has chosen to completely block its access from Florida. This unprecedented situation pushes fans of the orange and black site to look for alternatives, particularly via virtual private networks commonly known as VPNs.
American states toughen their tone
The restriction movement is not limited to Florida. Ten other states, including Texas, Louisiana and Oklahoma, already impose similar measures. Age verification by official document is becoming the norm and radically transforming the American digital landscape which was until now anonymous. In Louisiana, the first state to apply these restrictions, Pornhub has already reported a spectacular 80% drop in traffic.
This avalanche of regulations is part of a broader political strategy of the Republican Party: legislators justify these measures by the need to protect minors. Yet critics point to risks to privacy and freedoms. It seems obvious that people visiting the “Hub” do not really want to show their ID to gain access, like checking before entering a club.
France follows suit
France is not left out. French authorities recently ordered the blocking of several major sites, including Tukif and Xhamster. French justice now requires platforms to rigorously verify the age of users and simply clicking on a sworn declaration box stating a user’s majority is no longer enough.
The response from Internet users was not long in coming. Searches related to VPNs are experiencing explosive growth, particularly in Florida in the last 24 hours, explains the media Gizmodo. These tools which allow you to hide your online location (and therefore access Pornhub without restriction) are becoming the refuge of many users keen to preserve their anonymity.
The debate between protection and freedoms intensifies
These new regulations increase tension with the justification of the protection of minors on one side and that of individual freedoms on the other. The Free Speech Coalition which represents the adult entertainment industry denounces a form of state censorship. The organization warns of the risks of seeing users turn to less secure platforms, which do not moderate content and therefore may show illegal images.
Aylo, Pornhub’s parent company, offers an alternative approach focused on device-level verification. This solution would, according to her, reconcile protection of minors and respect for private life. Suffice it to say that with these new restrictions, VPNs have a bright future ahead of them.
- Florida joins ten other US states in requiring strict ID verification to access porn sites
- France is following a similar trajectory with the blocking of several major platforms
- Faced with these restrictions, searches related to VPNs are exploding, revealing the rapid adaptation of Internet users to these new constraints
