Pornhub blocked in Texas over age-verification law. Now, VPN searches are surging

After a prolonged legal battle between the Texas attorney general's office and Pornhub, Texans are now unable to access the website on any device.

This comes as a federal appeals court upheld a Texas law mandating that pornography platforms implement age-verification measures to ensure only adults aged 18 or older can access their websites, the Houston Chronicle initially reported. The decision followed a federal judge's decision in August that ruled in favor of Pornhub, alleging that the Texas law violated free speech under the U.S. Constitution's First Amendment.

Now, when users attempt to visit the adult entertainment website, they instead encounter a detailed message explaining why the website is no longer accessible.

In addition to Texas, Pornhub has reluctantly blocked site access for people in other states with age-verification laws, including Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Montana, North Carolina, Utah and Virginia.

What other sites does parent company Aylo own?

Owned by the adult entertainment conglomerate Aylo, Pornhub stands as the second-most visited website in its category, trailing only behind XVideos. Globally, it holds the notable rank of No. 14 among all websites.

However, it is only one of the impacted websites that are now no longer accessible in the state of Texas.

There are eight video-sharing websites in the Pornhub Network: GayTube, Peeperz, PornIQ, Pornhub, RedTube, Thumbzilla, Tube8, and YouPorn. The network also operates Porn MD, a video search engine that aggregates content from across the network.

All adult entertainment brands operated by Aylo include:

• Brazzers

• Digital Playground

• Men.com

• Mofos

• Nutaku

• Pornhub

• Reality Kings

• RedTube

• Sean Cody

• Twistys

• WhyNotBi.com

• Xtube

• YouPorn

Searches for VPNs surge after Pornhub blocks access in Texas

Following the news of the Pornhub's deactivation in the state, Texans are now scrambling to find virtual private networks (VPNs). These tools enable users to encrypt their internet connection through secure servers located worldwide, allowing them to watch porn in private.

According to new data by SlashGear, Google search trends for "Texas VPN" have surged by more than 1,700% in the last day, while searches for the specific "Proton VPN" brand have increased by 4,750. There's also been an uptick in searches for "free VPN for iPhone" and "Free VPN," according to the agency.

This article originally appeared on Lubbock Avalanche-Journal: Pornhub blocked in Texas, will now require age-verification to access