Searches for VPN skyrocket in Texas after PornHub is shut off

After Pornhub suspended its service in the state of Texas, searches for virtual private networking (VPN) software spiked this week.

Pornhub's services were suspended in Texas due to a law that forces adult websites the verify the age or identities of their users.

The law is known as HB 1181, and requires adult websites to implement "reasonable age verification" methods to ensure that minors cannot access pornography.

Verification methods include either users being required to submit "proof of identity" to the website or a third-party contractor, or submitting personal data, such a biometric information, so a third-party contractor can check a user's age.

There was a four-fold rise in Google searches for ways to get past the state's blocking of the website.

Anyone who tries to visit Pornhub with a Texas IP address are now presented with a full-page message calling the Texas law "ineffective, haphazard, and dangerous."

“Until the real solution is offered, we have made the difficult decision to completely disable access to our website in Texas,” the message reads. “In doing so, we are complying with the law, as we always do, but hope that governments around the world will implement laws that actually protect the safety and security of users.”

CNNanalysis of Good Trends data shows search interest in VPNs quadrupled within hours followed Pornhub's announcement.

Whilst Google Trends can only show correlation between search interest and events, it seems likely that there is a connection between the new law and Pornhub's users.

Evan Greer, director digital rights advocacy group Fight for the Future, said a link "seems pretty likely."

“The apparent spike in VPN searches in Texas shows that these types of age verification laws aren’t just unconstitutional, they’re also silly and ineffective,” Greer said. “Just like millions of people in countries like China, Russia and Turkey evade their government’s draconian online censorship regimes using simple tools like VPNs, now we see Texans doing the same to get around their own state government’s invasive rules.”

Pornhub has suspended its services in multiple states, including Montana, Utah, and Virginia, due to age verification laws being put in place across the country.

In a blog post, Pornhub said it supports age verification but that users' should not be forced to provide sensitive personal information to individual websites and third-party providers. Instead, the company has proposed that age verification checks should be performed exclusively on a user's device, without requiring them to send data over the Internet to third parties.

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