VPN Downloads Surge in Australia as Adult Sites Enforce Age Verification

Virtual private network (VPN) apps have rocketed up download charts in Australia from early this morning, when major adult websites began blocking users who do not complete age verification under new online safety codes.

Data from Sensor Tower shows Proton VPN jumped from 174th to 19th place in free iPhone apps, NordVPN moved from 189th to 13th, and VPN Super Unlimited Proxy climbed from 40th to 7th between March 2 and March 8, 2026.

The spike follows the enforcement of the eSafety Commissioner’s online safety codes, which from March 3 require adult sites, AI companion chatbots, app stores and certain social media platforms to verify users are 18 or older before allowing access to pornography, extreme violence or self-harm content. Non-compliance carries fines of up to $49.5 million per breach.

Aylo-owned sites including Pornhub, RedTube, YouPorn and Tube8 displayed notices to Australian IP addresses stating they are “not currently accepting new account registrations in your region.” Pornhub reportedly restricted non-logged-in Australian visitors to safe-for-work content only. On Elon Musk’s X, users reported being prompted to verify age each time they viewed adult posts – a process the platform says mirrors its under-16 social media ban checks, using account age, behaviour signals and facial age estimation tools.

eSafety Commissioner Julie Inman Grant told ABC RN Breakfast: “If you are a platform that has R18 or X+ content, you should be age verifying. Just having a button you toggle that says: ‘Are you over 18?’ will no longer pass muster… there needs to be more rigour behind that.”

Electronic Frontiers Australia chair John Pane said the VPN surge was entirely predictable. “It’s exactly the same experience that happened in Australia with the introduction of the flawed social media ban… but also it’s been the online behaviour that’s been reflected in every single other jurisdiction around the world that has introduced age gating legislation to prevent access to online adult content.”

In the first week of the UK’s similar age-verification system in 2025, four of the top five downloaded iPhone apps were VPNs, with Proton reporting an 1,800 per cent increase in downloads. The UK government later urged people not to use VPNs to circumvent the rules.

Pane cautioned users to research VPN providers carefully. “Some free or discounted VPNs could examine users’ data and then sell it to make money,” he said. The three apps surging in Australia – Proton VPN, NordVPN and VPN Super Unlimited Proxy – all advertise no-logs policies and no user data collection.

The rise in VPN usage highlights a familiar pattern: when platforms introduce age or access restrictions, significant numbers of users seek workarounds. Whether the trend leads to stricter enforcement, legal challenges or broader regulatory adjustments remains to be seen.

The eSafety Commissioner has signalled that platforms failing to comply with the codes will face significant penalties, while industry observers expect continued innovation in both age-verification technology and circumvention tools.