Pornælder- check love sendt VPN Signups gennem taget efter den øverste domstol bakket texas og uk tændt sin sikkerhedsretsakt

En voksende bølge af love på begge sider af Atlanten er at omforme, hvordan folk får adgang til voksne hjemmesider online - og køre millioner af brugere mod Virtuelle private netværk for at bevare deres anonymitet. For at holde mindreårige fra at se "skadelige" voksne materiale, stater såsom Texas og Louisiana vedtaget love, der kræver platforme som Pornhub til at kontrollere brugeridentiteter. Hvad der begyndte som en håndfuld statslige foranstaltninger har siden udvidet sig dramatisk og overlevede en skelsættende test ved USA 's højesteret.

All of these steps depend on internet platforms gathering official identification documents or putting external age-verification systems in place. But that kind of verification screens every visitor, not just children. Adult users who previously enjoyed a degree of anonymity find the prospect unsettling — the idea that their browsing history and personal information could be linked and easily accessed in one place.

Kritikere advarer også om, at lovene kan misbruges. De bekymrer lovgiverne kan construe "voksen" indhold bredt, potentielt at gøre materiale af LGBTQ + skabere eller medlemmer af marginaliserede samfund sværere at nå og skære sårbare unge ud fra online support systemer.

Højesteret ændrer det juridiske landskab

I årevis, modstandere argumenterede disse love var sandsynligvis forfatningsstridige, peger på tidligere domme, der slog ned lignende restriktioner som for feje en byrde på voksne. At calculus ændret den 27 juni 2025, da USA Højesteret besluttede Fritalskoalition, Inc.. I en 6-3 dom, Domstolen stadfæstede Texas 's H Buddb 1181, som kræver kommercielle hjemmesider, hvis indhold er mere end en-tredje "seksuelt materiale skadeligt for mindreårige" at kontrollere, at besøgende er 18 eller ældre.

Rather than applying the strict scrutiny that had doomed earlier laws, the Court used intermediate scrutiny and concluded that any burden on adults is merely incidental, writing that adults have “no First Amendment right to avoid age verification” for content that is obscene to minors. The decision was a turning point: by the time it came down, roughly two dozen states had already adopted similar age-verification laws, and the ruling cleared the way for more. Civil-liberties groups condemned it. The American Civil Liberties Union called it a departure from decades of precedent, while the Electronic Frontier Foundation warned the laws would “block adults from accessing lawful speech, curtail their ability to be anonymous, and jeopardize their data security and privacy.”

Sådan bruges VPN 'er

The effect on VPN demand has been striking. Top10 VPN’s Head of Research, Simon Migliano, documented that wherever U.S. lawmakers imposed age verification on adult content, demand for VPNs spiked in lockstep. In one extreme case, he reported demand jumped 847% in Utah on the day that state’s law took effect.

Virtuelle Private Networks har tjent som en slags digital maske siden 1990 'erne, skjule en brugers reelle placering og forvrænge deres data. Teknologien lader folk komme rundt geo- restrictions at nå frem til shows og sportsbegivenheder, der ikke er tilgængelige i deres område, og det har længe været et vigtigt redskab for aktivister, journalister og whistleblowere, der opererer under undertrykkende regimer.

"En VPN er et effektivt værktøj til at omgå enhver form for internet censur, da det giver brugerne mulighed for at få adgang til det begrænsede indhold via en IP-adresse fra en placering under en anden jurisdiktion end deres egen", Migliano bemærkes.

Andre Slonopas, a cybersecurity leader at American Public University and American Military University, emphasizes what the technology empowers users to do rather than the institutions behind it. He argues VPNs let people access the internet anonymously from anywhere, becoming “borderless citizens” of the web. “This is an unprecedented opportunity to hear other ideas, opinions, learn about worldviews and connect with humans on a different level,” Slonopas stated.

Samir Jain, vicepræsident for politik i Center for Demokrati og Teknologi, siger, at VPN 'er længe har været brugt til at omgå indhold restriktioner i udlandet, men amerikanerne er i stigende grad henvender sig til dem for at komme rundt lignende restriktioner i hjemmet. Jain - hvis gruppe indgivet en briefing i Texas sagen — notes that requiring a government ID fundamentally changes the equation. “If you provide a government ID to prove your age, you are in effect no longer anonymous,” he said. “If people no longer feel like they can [access information anonymously], that infringes on their First Amendment expression right.”

ExpressVPN Privacy Advocate Lauren Hendry Parsons agreed. “We know that when legislators restrict consumer access to services like porn, citizens still find a way to access it,” she said. “There is absolutely a middle ground to be found that leans on third-party cooperation instead of limiting consumer rights.”

Det Forenede Kongerige antænder en rekord-bryde VPN-boom

If the U.S. laws lit the fuse, the United Kingdom set off the explosion. On July 25, 2025, age-verification requirements under the UK’s Online Safety Act took effect, forcing platforms hosting adult content to confirm users are over 18 through methods such as photo ID, credit-card checks, or facial age estimation. Enforcement falls to the regulator Ofcom, which can fine non-compliant companies up to 10 percent of their global revenue.

The public response was immediate and enormous. Proton VPN reported UK signups surged more than 1,400% within hours of the law taking effect — a spike the company said was sustained, and far larger than an earlier surge in June after Pornhub blocked access in France over that country’s 2024 age-verification law. Proton later cited sustained increases as high as 1,800%, while NordVPN confirmed a roughly 1,000% jump in UK purchases over the same period. For a stretch, VPN apps occupied half of the top ten free apps in the UK App Store.

The numbers tell a clear story of both compliance and circumvention. According to Ofcom, traffic to the ten most-visited UK pornography services settled at a lower level after July 25, with Pornhub seeing roughly a 31% drop in unique visitors in a single month. At the same time, VPN usage more than doubled — rising from about 650,000 daily users before the law to a peak of over 1.4 million in mid-August 2025, before gradually easing to around 900,000 by November. Using a VPN to bypass the checks is not itself illegal for individual users, though Ofcom has barred adult platforms from endorsing VPNs as a workaround.

Hvad platforme gør som svar

Faced with steep penalties, many adult sites have chosen to block users entirely rather than collect sensitive data. When Texas’s law took effect, Pornhub — the dominant adult video platform — cut off access for users in the state, releasing a statement opposing what it called a “rushed, reckless, and dangerous” approach, and it has similarly restricted access in numerous other states that mandate age verification. In the UK, by contrast, Pornhub and thousands of other sites rolled out verification rather than withdraw from the market; Ofcom has said more than 6,000 adult sites adopted age checks.

Experts say platforms are wary not only of fines but of the security risk in amassing identity data. “Age verification systems collect a huge amount of data, not only the personal information from each ID but also a record of each and every authentication made — essentially any site you access that features adult content,” Hendry Parsons said. “Combined with the data profiling social media companies create about their users, this treasure trove of personal information is a perfect target for bad actors.”

Et VPN boom kunne bringe ny kontrol

Massemigreringen til VPN 'er kan indebære egne risici. Selve synligheden af brugere, der åbent stoler på værktøjer til at gå uden om nye love kunne få lovgiverne til at målrette selve teknologien. Nogle anti-porno love, f.eks. Utahs, allerede forbyde platforme fra at hjælpe mindreårige omgå adgangsbegrænsninger, og digitale rettigheder fortalere har længe bekymret, at brede forslag til at forbyde udenlandske apps kan feje i VPN 'er så godt. I Det Forenede Kongerige har den kraftige stigning fået embedsmændene til at undersøge, om der er behov for strammere regler.

Samir Jain of the Center for Democracy and Technology acknowledges those concerns but argues that new legislation criminalizing or regulating VPN use could prove both ineffective and constitutionally vulnerable, potentially setting up further legal disputes. “There are a lot of legitimate reasons to use VPNs to protect your privacy and anonymity,” Jain concluded.

For mere om digitale rettigheder og online politik, udforske AEGIS Alliances Tech News dækning. Den fulde Højesteret udtalelse i Fritalskoalition, Inc. er tilgængelig fra De Forenede Staters højesteret.