Country-wide Blockades

[RustyHawk]

https://www.pcmag.com/news/sorry-no-pornhub-access-in-23-states-and-3-countries-how-to-watch-anyway

https://www.pcmag.com/news/sorry-no-pornhub-access-in-23-states-and-3-countries-how-to-watch-anyway

 
Age verification for adult websites has been grinding forward for a while in the US, and Pornhub's parent company Aylo has been blocking access to its platforms rather than comply. As of February 2026, that now covers 23 US states plus the UK and France. The UK block for new users went into effect on 2 February 2026 under the Online Safety Act. France blocked access earlier, following separate legislation requiring sites to adopt independent age checks.
 
Aylo has consistently called the laws "ineffective, haphazard, and dangerous" and has pursued legal challenges in several states. Some of those challenges have failed, including in Texas where the state Supreme Court allowed the age verification law to stand. Indiana's attorney general has publicly described the law there as necessary to shield children from psychological harm.
 
The practical effect is that users in affected regions either hit a block page or reach for a VPN. PCMag covers the VPN angle in the article, though using one to sidestep a legal requirement in your jurisdiction does carry its own considerations.
 
The real debate underneath all of this is whether age verification actually works or just shifts users to less regulated sites, and who ends up holding the risk when people hand over ID or biometric data to third-party verification services. Neither side of this argument has a clean answer right now.

[Zero-Point]

The VPN workaround is obvious but it does not really address the underlying privacy concern. Now instead of Pornhub having your data, some verification company does. Arguably worse.

[Matticus]

Aylo's strategy of blocking rather than complying is actually quite clever from a PR angle. It makes the law the villain instead of the platform. Whether it works legally is another matter.

[John]

23 states and growing. At some point this becomes a de facto national policy in the US without Congress ever voting on it. That is a strange way for internet regulation to work.

[codeberg]

A puritanical crusade. They don't like porn. So blocking it.

[Sinead_47]

No real argument from me on that. The table does not lie over a full season, whatever people say about individual games.

The result will answer the question better than any of us can.

[RayOfLight31]

https://www.pcmag.com/news/sorry-no-pornhub-access-in-23-states-and-3-countries-how-to-watch-anyway Age verification for adult websites has

Keep an eye on it, yes. Worth a look if you have not already.

[Jan79]

Completely agree with that. Not a life changer but it adds up.

[DecentBloke]

A puritanical crusade. They don't like porn. So blocking it.

I had been looking at it the wrong way I think. Appreciate the detail.

[Cobra]

Not fully convinced by that part of it. When I ran into something similar the biggest improvement came from stripping things back and checking the obvious basics first.

Should sort it if the basics are fine.

[Scholar]

A puritanical crusade. They don't like porn. So blocking it.

Solid advice that. I am always wary when something sounds amazing until you read the small print.

Cheers for sharing that.

[BretHart_Mike]

A lot of these things sound better than they are. I set a calendar reminder to check rates every three months and it saves me a fair bit.

Not a life changer but it adds up.