VPN apps rocket up download charts in Australia as porn websites begin blocking users | Social media ban
Virtual private network apps have rocketed up the app charts in Australia after some adult sites began blocking Australian users in line with new online safety rules effective from Monday.
According to the latest data from Sensor Tower, VPN Super Unlimited Proxy has risen to No. 7 among free iPhone apps in Australia as of Sunday, up from No. 40 on March 2. Proton VPN rose from 174th to 19th place, and NordVPN rose from 189th to 13th place.
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VPN applications allow the user’s location to appear elsewhere than where they reside; This means users trying to access adult sites can use apps to appear to be outside Australia to access the sites.
On Friday, Guardian Australia reported that sites owned by Aylo, such as RedTube, YouPorn and Tube8, all had notices on their sites when visited from an Australian IP address stating that they “do not currently accept new account registrations in your area”.
Pornhub, the world’s largest porn site, which is also owned by Aylo, has displayed only safe-for-business content on its homepage for Australian users who are not logged in, as of Monday.
From Monday, adult sites and a range of other services, including AI assistive chatbots and app stores, must implement age verification for users trying to access pornography, extremely violent material or self-harm content.
Australia’s online safety regulator has warned that platforms that fail to comply could face fines of up to $49.5 million for each breach.
The rules also cover social media sites where adult content is allowed.
Users in Australia on Elon Musk’s X reported over the weekend that they were asked to verify their age every time they viewed a post containing adult content on the social media platform.
The platform’s regulatory policies page for Australia states that the age verification method used is similar to the method it uses to comply with Australia’s social media ban on under-16s. This includes a mix of checks based on the age of the account, signals on account behavior, and facial age tools for accounts where the platform cannot confirm that they are over 18 years of age.
Grok, X’s AI chatbot, has also blocked accounts from producing restricted content in Australia until they pass age checks.
X has been approached for comment.
eSafety commissioner Julie Inman Grant told the ABC’s RN Breakfast that platforms with adult content should verify user ages.
“If you are a platform with R18 or X+ content, you must do age verification,” he said.
“You just have a button that says: ‘Are you over 18?’ “It won’t recover anymore… there needs to be more rigor behind this.”
Electronic Frontiers Australia president John Pane said the increase in popularity of VPN apps was expected.
“I’m not surprised. I would definitely put money on it,” Pane said.
“It is exactly the same experience as Australia with the introduction of the erroneous social media ban… but it is online behavior that is also mirrored in every other jurisdiction around the world that has introduced age rating legislation to prevent access to adult content online.”
In the first week of launching a similar age verification system for adult sites in the UK last year, four of the five most downloaded apps on the Apple app store were virtual private network (VPN) apps; Proton reported an 1,800% increase in downloads of its VPN app.
Later the British government urged people not to use VPNs.
Pane urged people who want to use a VPN to closely check what data the app might collect; He noted that some VPN providers that provide free or discounts may mine users’ data and then sell the data to make money.
Three apps gaining popularity in Australia include both free and subscription models, but all promise not to collect users’ data.
