Australia’s pornography age-verification: a victory for advocates or a gateway to ‘darker corners of the internet’

## Summary
Photograph: Leon Neal/Getty Images Australia’s pornography age-verification: a victory for advocates or a gateway to ‘darker corners of the internet’ As users turn to VPNs to access pornography, experts warn collection of information creates a ‘honeytrap’ for bad actors Get our breaking news email , free app or daily news podcast When porn sites began blocking Australians from access , it also meant X began age-checking users before they could look at adult content on the social media site. But it asked some users to send a video selfie every time they wanted to look at a single picture or video. “Almost every post on my alt account has a content warning and asks me [for a] selfie for age verification,” one Australian porn consumer, Joe*, told Guardian Australia. “It’s maddening.” Others said they were moving away from sites that have verification. “I’m honestly no longer engaging with any of the sites and platforms I used to use because not only is the verification process really invasive, but some of them even give you the option to sign in with Google … and that’s the last platform I’d trust with any sensitive data,” Jethro said. “The choices are: link your perversions to your government ID, or submit your face into the AI slop machine,” Chris* said. Aside from several Aylo-owned sites like RedTube that have blocked Australians from access, and Pornhub – which now just displays safe-for-work content for Australians who visit without logging in – most of the top free adult sites Australians visit for porn have not implemented age verification. The age-verification regime puts Australians at greater risk of harm, not less.” *Names have been changed Explore more on these topics Social media ban Pornography Internet Social media news Share Reuse this content

## Article Content
Pornhub is among the websites that now display only safe-for-work content for users in Australia who visit without logging in.
Photograph: Leon Neal/Getty Images
View image in fullscreen
Pornhub is among the websites that now display only safe-for-work content for users in Australia who visit without logging in.
Photograph: Leon Neal/Getty Images
Australia’s pornography age-verification: a victory for advocates or a gateway to ‘darker corners of the internet’
As users turn to VPNs to access pornography, experts warn collection of information creates a ‘honeytrap’ for bad actors
Get our
breaking news email
,
free app
or
daily news podcast
When porn sites
began blocking Australians from access
, it also meant X began age-checking users before they could look at adult content on the social media site.
But it asked some users to send a video selfie every time they wanted to look at a single picture or video.
“Almost every post on my alt account has a content warning and asks me [for a] selfie for age verification,” one Australian porn consumer, Joe*, told Guardian Australia. “It’s maddening.”
Others said they were moving away from sites that have verification.
“I’m honestly no longer engaging with any of the sites and platforms I used to use because not only is the verification process really invasive, but some of them even give you the option to sign in with Google … and that’s the last platform I’d trust with any sensitive data,” Jethro said.
“The choices are: link your perversions to your government ID, or submit your face into the AI slop machine,” Chris* said.
It’s still early days. Aside from several Aylo-owned sites like RedTube that have blocked Australians from access, and Pornhub – which now just displays safe-for-work content for Australians who visit without logging in – most of the top free adult sites Australians visit for porn have not implemented age verification.
Sign up for the Breaking News Australia email
According to search engine optimisation website Semrush, the porn site Thisvid appeared to be the only one in the Top 20 that had complied. But with the threat of a $49.5m fine for a breach, more may soon join, and Australians have noticed.
Searches for porn on Google trends this week were at their highest point since Covid-era lockdowns ended in 2022. Searches for
virtual private networks
– which allow users to bypass restrictions by appearing to be outside Australia – were at the highest level since the former Coalition government brought in laws to allow piracy websites to be blocked in 2015.
Sex workers had been warning for years that
these codes
– which were a longtime development between the eSafety commissioner and industry – may force them off the internet, and users on to less secure sites.
“We’ve already warned that these laws will funnel traffic away from platforms that do have moderation safeguards in place and towards sites that profit from non-consensual and stolen porn, including the unpaid work of sex workers,” Scarlet Alliance chief executive, Mish Pony, said.
“So driving people off mainstream services, such as Pornhub, does not stop porn consumption, it just pushes it into darker corners of the internet. It makes it harder to address real harms.”
Andy Conboi, an OnlyFans content creator based in Sydney, said he had already noticed a drop in engagement on his posts.
Australians will have to verify their age to watch pornography from Monday. Here’s what you need to know
Read more
“People don’t really want to send a photo of themselves or their licence or whatever to these platforms, particularly Twitter [X],” he said.
“In the group chats I do have with creators, people are just frustrated and annoyed, their engagement is down [and] it’s much more difficult to put stuff out there and be seen a lot of the time.”
Conboi said some creators were moving to create safe-for-work content on sites like Instagram and TikTok in order to be seen instead, noting it was an odd outcome given the number of underage users on those platforms.
But for opponents of pornography, it is a long-awaited victory, after attempts at internet filtering failed under the Rudd-Gillard Labor government, and when the Coalition
abandoned opt-out internet filtering plans
shortly before the 2013 election.
The children’s eSafety commissioner policy at the time remained, and has since amassed increasing power over the internet in Australia in the decade the role has existed.
Collective Shout, a longtime campaigner against pornography, declared victory.
“This day was hard fought for. Collective Shout and our partners and allies worked hard to bring it to fruition,” Melinda Tankard Reist, movement director for Collective Shout, said.
“It is a relief to know proof-of-age protections are now in place as one obstacle in the way of young people being exposed to rape porn, torture porn, incest porn and extreme violence and degradation of women.”
The Australian Christian Lobby – one of the biggest proponents of internet f

---

## Expert Analysis

### Merits
N/A

### Areas for Consideration
- But with the threat of a $49.5m fine for a breach, more may soon join, and Australians have noticed.
- Here’s what you need to know Read more “People don’t really want to send a photo of themselves or their licence or whatever to these platforms, particularly Twitter [X],” he said. “In the group chats I do have with creators, people are just frustrated and annoyed, their engagement is down [and] it’s much more difficult to put stuff out there and be seen a lot of the time.” Conboi said some creators were moving to create safe-for-work content on sites like Instagram and TikTok in order to be seen instead, noting it was an odd outcome given the number of underage users on those platforms.
- Collective Shout and our partners and allies worked hard to bring it to fruition,” Melinda Tankard Reist, movement director for Collective Shout, said. “It is a relief to know proof-of-age protections are now in place as one obstacle in the way of young people being exposed to rape porn, torture porn, incest porn and extreme violence and degradation of women.” The Australian Christian Lobby – one of the biggest proponents of internet filtering in the 18 years since Labor’s original proposal – also welcomed the news. “The fact that P*rnhub have ceased operating in Australia is already proof of its effectiveness,” ACL chief executive, Michelle Pearse, said in an email response. ‘Honeytraps’ for identities and sexual interests The effectiveness is hard to measure in parts of the world that have taken similar action.

### Implications
- Photograph: Leon Neal/Getty Images Australia’s pornography age-verification: a victory for advocates or a gateway to ‘darker corners of the internet’ As users turn to VPNs to access pornography, experts warn collection of information creates a ‘honeytrap’ for bad actors Get our breaking news email , free app or daily news podcast When porn sites began blocking Australians from access , it also meant X began age-checking users before they could look at adult content on the social media site.
- But with the threat of a $49.5m fine for a breach, more may soon join, and Australians have noticed.
- Sex workers had been warning for years that these codes – which were a longtime development between the eSafety commissioner and industry – may force them off the internet, and users on to less secure sites. “We’ve already warned that these laws will funnel traffic away from platforms that do have moderation safeguards in place and towards sites that profit from non-consensual and stolen porn, including the unpaid work of sex workers,” Scarlet Alliance chief executive, Mish Pony, said. “So driving people off mainstream services, such as Pornhub, does not stop porn consumption, it just pushes it into darker corners of the internet.
- Australians will have to verify their age to watch pornography from Monday.

### Expert Commentary
This article covers porn, sites, users topics. Areas of concern are also raised. Readability: Flesch-Kincaid grade 0.0. Word count: 1122.