SYDNEY, March 9 - As Australia enacted new national rules aimed at limiting minors' access to adult material online, virtual private networks became among the most downloaded smartphone applications and a leading pornography operator began blocking or altering what Australian users could see.
The legislation, which came into effect on Monday, mandates that websites distributing pornography must verify that visitors are 18 or older. App stores are also required to check ages before permitting downloads of software labelled 18+. The law places an additional obligation on artificial intelligence-powered chatbot services to prevent minors from encountering specified text-based material - including pornography, extreme violence, and content related to self-harm and eating disorders - or face fines of up to A$49.5 million, equivalent to $34.49 million.
Data published by Apple on the day the measures began showed three VPN applications among the 15 most downloaded free smartphone apps in Australia. The top-ranked VPN on the list, VPN - Super Unlimited Proxy, exceeded any social media platform in downloads according to that chart. VPN - Super Unlimited Proxy did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
VPNs mask a device's true location by assigning a different code to the device. All internet-connected devices carry an individual code that can disclose their location; VPNs obscure that identifier, which can allow users to appear to be in another jurisdiction.
Similar surges in VPN interest were reported when Britain required internet companies to verify ages before providing pornography in 2025, according to media reports. In Australia, the arrival of the new regime followed other recent restrictions, including a nationwide ban on teenagers using social media that was introduced last December.
Canada-based Aylo, owner of a large portfolio of pornography websites, reacted to the new Australian rules by blocking access for users to some platforms. The company restricted Australians from accessing RedTube and YouPorn, and offered a version of Pornhub that does not include explicit content. Each of those sites displayed a banner noting they were "not currently accepting new account registrations in your region." Aylo did not respond to a request for comment.
Local reporting quoted an Aylo spokesperson saying Australian users would be "presented with a safe-for-work experience when they view our platforms." The same spokesperson was quoted saying that the age-verification regimes in Australia and Britain "does not effectively protect minors, and instead creates harms relating to data privacy and exposure to illegal content on non-compliant platforms."
eSafety Commissioner Julie Inman Grant framed the change as extending longstanding physical-world protections for minors into the online environment. "A child today can't walk into a bar and order a drink, they can't stroll into a strip club or browse an adult shop or sit down at a blackjack table in a casino," she told the Australian Broadcasting Corp. "This just really brings ... those protections that we put for kids in place to the digital realm."
The law's combination of age checks for adult-labeled apps, mandatory verification for pornography websites, and obligations on AI chat services represents a multifaceted regulatory approach. The immediate market signals included rapid consumer adoption of tools that can alter device location information and provider-level adjustments to access for Australian users.
Exchange rate noted in reports was $1 = 1.4351 Australian dollars.
Summary
Australia's new online age-restrictions require age verification for pornography websites and app store downloads labelled 18+, and compel AI chat services to block certain content from minors or face significant fines. The rollout led to an increase in VPN downloads and actions by a major pornography operator to block or sanitize content for Australian users.