After Pornhub left Florida, VPN demand surged by more than 1,000%

• Pornhub exited Florida at the start of the year because of a new age-verification law.
• The HB3 law requires users to provide ID to access adult sites. Noncompliant platforms face fines.
• After the law was enacted, interest in VPNs in Florida skyrocketed.

Searches for VPNs in Florida skyrocketed after Pornhub exited the state over a new law requiring age verification for adult websites.

VpnMentor told Forbes it "detected a surge of 1,150% in VPN demand" in Florida in the first few hours after the law took effect at the start of the year.

The company described the surge as "staggering."

Google searches for "VPN" in Florida also experienced a notable rise.

While Google Trends doesn't give exact search figures, it showed that interest in the term "VPN" in Florida reached a score of 100 on New Year's Day. A value of 100 represents peak popularity for a term, a sharp increase from a score of 58 the day before.

Interest remained high as of Monday, with the term scoring 82.

VPNs allow users to hide their location and IP address by routing their internet connection through a remote VPN server, allowing them to bypass regional blocks on websites.

The surge in VPN interest followed the implementation of HB3, which was passed by Florida lawmakers and signed by Gov. Ron DeSantis.

HB3 requires users to verify their ages with a third party using a driver's license before they can view pornographic material. If platforms hosting explicit material fail to comply, they can be fined up to $50,000 for each violation.

Oklahoma, Idaho, and North Carolina have also introduced similar age-verification laws.

Last year, Pornhub exited Texas in protest over a legally contentious effort to introduce age-verification requirements.

Proton, a VPN service, said on Friday that it had received a "massive surge" in sign-ups for its services in the US.

"Typically, we see such spikes from countries with unstable governments facing internet shutdowns, meaning this is an anomaly," it said.

In a follow-up X post, Proton described it as a "false alarm" and said the surge was the result of "porn."

Pornhub, the world's most visited adult website and one of the most visited websites in the world, has already blocked access to its content in 17 states, according to The Independent.

In a statement provided to media outlets, Aylo, Pornhub's parent company, described the age-verification methods outlined in such laws as "ineffective, haphazard, and dangerous."

"Any regulations that require hundreds of thousands of adult sites to collect significant amounts of highly sensitive personal information is jeopardizing user safety," it continued.

Those attempting to access Pornhub in Florida without a VPN are now shown a video presented by the adult-entertainment star Cherie DeVille, who says "giving your ID card every time you want to visit an adult platform" is ineffective and puts children and users' privacy at risk.

Beyond grappling with age-verification laws, Aylo is also dealing with a wave of legal challenges.

Hundreds of people have sued the company, alleging the website knowingly profited from videos depicting their abuse.

In August, a Toronto law firm began a three-year independent monitorship of Pornhub and Aylo, which will review how Aylo responds to takedown requests and how it screens for illegal content.