Pornhub returns to Australia after banning access due to age verification rules

Pornhub has resumed operations in Australia, eight months after it was removed due to age verification regulations. However, only adult users with Apple devices will now be able to access the site. The parent company Aylo announced on Wednesday that eligible adult users in Australia, who have confirmed their age through Apple's Australian age-verification process, will regain access to the platform.

The world's largest porn site left the Australian market in March, claiming that new laws mandating user age confirmation did not protect children and created privacy and content exposure issues on non-compliant platforms. Apple recently implemented age checks in Australia, following a similar rollout in the UK. In March, Australia introduced stricter laws requiring users to prove they are over 18 to access adult content, including porn, R-rated video games, and sexually explicit AI chatbots.

The online safety regulator stated that these changes would safeguard children from harmful content, with platforms facing fines for non-compliance. Critics argued that there would be data privacy concerns and potential ways to bypass age verification technologies, such as facial recognition and digital IDs. Aylo returned to Australia as Apple has set a benchmark by incorporating default child safety features on all devices, requiring users to confirm their adulthood.

For years, Aylo has supported device-based age verification as the most privacy-protective approach to prevent minors from accessing inappropriate online content. Australians with Apple devices that have been age-verified will receive a standard adult user experience, Kekesi, Aylo's vice-president of brand and community, explained.

Users can verify their age using a credit card, passport, driver's license, or government-issued ID. Kekesi emphasized that having devices with child safety features as a default means adults won't need to share unnecessary personal information with multiple apps and websites. It also limits the effectiveness of virtual private networks (VPNs) used to circumvent age verification technologies.