Todd Spangler NY Digital Editor Searches by Texas users for the term “VPN” jumped more than fourfold after Pornhub and its parent company’s network of other pornography websites disabled access in the state this week, according to Google data.
VPNs, or virtual private networks, establish an encrypted connection between a user and the public internet — and they can also mask the location of user, making it appear as if they’re accessing the internet from another state or country.
A number of Texans evidently have a newfound interest in location-spoofing VPN services, coming after Pornhub and other affiliated adult websites on March 14 blocked access to users in the state to protest Texas’ age-verification law requiring pornography sites to institute age-verification measures to ensure only adults 18 and older are able to access them.
A new message displayed Thursday on Pornhub (and other sites operated by parent company Aylo) to users with internet addresses registered to ISPs in Texas explained that it was disabling access to comply with the law.
Read more on variety.com