What would you do if Pornhub decides to cease operation in your state? Well, if you are a Texan, you download a VPN to maintain your access to Pornhub. Because that is exactly what people in Texas did when Pornhub seized their operation in the state following the introduction of the law, according to which adult entertainment sites will have to verify the age and identities of visitors on their sites.

This was not acceptable to one of the most famous adult entertainment sites and they decided to suspend their service in the state of Texas. But Texans remained loyal to their favorite porn site as instead of visiting some other website, they chose to search for VPNs to circumvent the ban.

This resulted in Google searches for virtual private networks increasing in Texas by four-fold. Texas is not the only state from which Pornhub has pulled out but it was the only state that saw a sharp increase in VPN searches, prompting experts to correlate the two events. (Fung, 2024)

While some have simply chosen to download VPNs and continue with their lives, others are advocating for such laws to be removed as is the case with the digital rights advocacy group “Fight for the Future”. They are calling this law not only unconstitutional but also ineffective as shown by the ease with which people can simply circumvent the ban.

https://www.vecteezy.com/photo/6713673-vpn-network-security-internet-privacy-encryption

References

Fung, B. (2024, March 15). Searches for VPNs spike in Texas after Pornhub pulls out of the state. Retrieved from CNN: https://edition.cnn.com/2024/03/15/tech/vpn-searches-spike-texas-pornhub/index.html