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Australia’s Online Safety Act 2021 took effect on March 9, 2026. From that date, adult websites serving Australian visitors must confirm every user is aged 18 or above before granting full access. The three verification routes on offer were a government-issued photo ID, a biometric facial age scan, or credit card details processed through a third-party age-check vendor. Pornhub’s parent company Aylo reviewed those options and turned its back on all of them: it cut off every Australian IP address instead. Existing accounts can no longer sign in, and new registrations have been shut down entirel

On March 9, several free VPN apps shot to the top of the Australian App Store charts almost immediately after the block went live. That’s understandable, but it creates a genuine problem: free VPN providers don’t maintain server infrastructure for nothing. The most common revenue model involves logging user traffic and selling that data to advertisers or data brokers. A handful of the free apps that surged on March 9 had no independently verified privacy policy whatsoever, which is precisely the kind of trade-off you’re trying to avoid in the first place. Consider what that actually means in p

Yes. Since March 9, 2026, Pornhub’s parent company Aylo has blocked all Australian IP addresses rather than comply with Australia’s Online Safety Act age verification requirements. New account registrations are also disabled, with no opt-in verification path available on the site.

As of March 9, 2026, existing Pornhub accounts no longer work from Australian IP addresses — and it isn’t only new registrations that are blocked. Even long-standing members trying to sign in from an Australian connection hit the same block screen every time. A VPN is therefore required to restore access to any account, whether new or existing. Once connected to a server outside Australia, sign-in works normally and saved preferences, playlists, and account history all remain intact.