VP MENTOR
The vpnMentor Research Team observed the demand for VPN services in Florida experience a significant spike on January the 1st. This increase followed the decision by Pornhub, the most visited adult website in the United States, to prohibit users from accessing their site from within the state.
What’s important to know:
✔ On March 25, 2024 Florida’s Gov. Ron DeSantis signed a law requiring age verification for accessing pornographic sites. This law, known as House Bill 3 (HB3), passed with bipartisan support and has caused quite a stir in the online community.
✔ HB3 was set to come into effect on January 1, 2025. It allows hefty fines of up to $50,000 for websites that fail to comply with the regulations.
✔ In response to this new legislation, Aylo, the parent company of Pornhub confirmed on December 18, 2024 that it will deny access for all users geo-located in the state as a form of protest to the new age verification requirements imposed by a state law.
The interesting development following Aylo’s geo-block on Florida IP addresses is the dramatic increase in the demand for Virtual Private Network (VPN) services in the state. A VPN allows users to mask their IP addresses and encrypt their internet traffic, providing an added layer of privacy and security while browsing online.
The vpnMentor Research Team observed a significant surge in VPN usage across the state of Florida, with a staggering increase noted in the first hours of January 1st increasing consistently since the last minutes of 2024 and reaching its peak of 1150% only four hours after the HB3 law came into effect. Additionally, there was a noteworthy 51% spike in demand for VPN services in the state on December 19, 2024, the day after Aylo released their statement of geo-blocking Florida IP addresses to access their website.
Florida’s new law on pornographic websites and the consequent rise of VPN usage emphasize the intricate interplay between technology, privacy, and regulatory frameworks. With laws pertaining to online activities constantly changing, it is imperative for users and website operators alike to remain knowledgeable about regulations and ensure compliance.
Aylo/Pornhub has previously geo-blocked 12 states all of which have enforced age-verification laws that the adult site deemed unjust.
In May 2023, Pornhub’s banning of Utah-based users caused a 967% spike in VPN demand in the state and last year, the passing of adult-site-related age restriction laws in Texas caused a surge in demand of 234.8% in the state.
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