New age-verification laws go into effect this month, with Pornhub ultimately blocking access to 12 states, now including Idaho, Indiana, Kansas, and Kentucky, effective July 17. 

Yet, with serious technological loopholes available, pornography that’s readily accessible to minors continues to be a pressing issue, even in states where this legislation has been enacted.

Virtual private networks, termed VPNs, encrypt internet traffic and route it through a server at a separate geographical location — thus allowing users to obscure their actual location and IP address, which has ramifications related to minors accessing pornography online. 

“While they are legal in the US, VPNs create loopholes by allowing users to bypass geographic restrictions and age verification measures. Although using a VPN to access content is not illegal per se, it can violate the terms of service of websites and undermine the intent of child protection laws. I believe law enforcement can still compel VPN providers to hand over user data with a legal warrant, meaning users are not entirely anonymous or immune from legal consequences.” Dr. David Tuffley, Senior Lecturer in Applied Ethics and Cyber Security at Griffith University in Queensland, Australia, explained.

“Generally speaking, VPNs can be used to make a user appear to be in a location other than where they really are. Therefore, a VPN can be used to make a user appear to be in one U.S. state while they are really in a different U.S. state,” John Villasenor, founder and faculty co-director of the UCLA Institute for Technology, Law and Policy, explained to the Register.

 “I emphasize that VPNs are technology-neutral tools — they aren’t inherently good or bad. For example, they have plenty of good uses, such as providing security and privacy,” he added. “But like any digital technology, they can also be misused.”

Google analytics trends suggest a surge in searches for VPNs within the weeks surrounding age-verification-law implementation. In Arkansas, Utah, North Carolina and Virginia, searches for VPNs reached five-year record highs surrounding the dates the age-verification laws went into effect throughout 2023 and 2024. 

Some state laws hold the platform liable in the case of residents utilizing workarounds. For example, the Utah age-verification bill states: “social media company shall not permit a Utah minor account holder to change or bypass restrictions on access as required by this section.” In order to truly comply, Pornhub would need to ensure that no VPN users are actually based in Utah.

Age-verification bills are a widely bipartisan issue, with Kentucky’s bill receiving unanimous bipartisan support; it was signed into law by Democrat Gov. Andy Beshear this April. Democratic Montana state Sen. Willis Curdy, who sponsored Montana’s age-verification bill, told the Register that it has become clear to Montana legislators that since last May, when the bill was enacted, “we were probably going to have to go back and revisit the law because we’ve heard that there’s been a way that some people have been working around the age-verification issue ... doing more research on how other states are approaching the VPN issue.”

He emphasized, “These kids don’t realize at that point what harm it’s doing to them.” Children and young teens’ exposure to pornography form the foundation of Curdy’s concerns. Prior to becoming a state senator, he was a high-school social-studies teacher for 30 years, and the troubling online trends concerned him. 

Children who come across pornography accidentally are poised to be the primary beneficiaries of these protections. “Requiring ID-based age verification at the source, the websites that profit from explicit content, is the most effective way to protect children from porn,” explained Helen Taylor, vice president of impact at Exodus Cry, an organization committed to combating sexual exploitation and trafficking. “While in certain situations it may be true that VPNs could potentially circumvent the age-verification systems, research reveals that the majority of kids are exposed to porn unintentionally. Evidence shows that it’s usually only after kids have been exposed to this highly addictive content and are hooked that they go looking or more, so it’s imperative to delay their first exposure as long as possible.” 

Covenant Eyes is an installable software that provides accountability for those struggling with pornography by helping individuals to share their internet behavior with an accountability ally in order to resist temptation. The company is also focused on preventing children from accessing the harmful content, Theo McManigal, Covenant Eyes’ Catholic Church outreach specialist, told the Register. “Any measures put in place to keep someone from accessing pornography are a good thing. Anything that causes someone to pause and think twice about viewing pornography is a good thing. We know in today’s digital society, the age of first exposure to pornography keeps getting younger. Recent surveys show the average age is 9.” 

Pornhub’s decision to block users from a dozen age-verified states, rather than check ages of users, shows what the company’s aim is, Taylor emphasized. “The fact that Pornhub is leaving states where they’re required to ensure its site visitors are 18-plus is proof that Pornhub prioritizes profits over the safety of children.”

Ultimately, these statutes are seeking to address the harms of pornography. Rob Jackson, licensed counselor at Focus on the Family, told the Register, “Some state legislators and others are trying to put different mechanisms in place to protect children online,” adding, “I’m fully supportive. I appreciate it. It’s past due.”

And yet, the accessible loopholes and societal pervasiveness of pornography highlight that more than laws must be addressed, said McManigal. “If someone’s goal is to circumvent a piece of technology, they will likely get around it. Technology doesn’t change the hearts and minds of people. It simply reveals what’s already there.” 

Assisting people to see the harm of porn is key, Jason Evert, Catholic founder and leader of the Chastity Project, told the Register. “In the end, while laws play an important role in protecting children, they do not change the human heart. What’s needed is for an internal transformation of the individual. We need to help those who are tempted to consume pornography to realize that it will always leave them unfulfilled because they were created to give and receive love.”

The Catechism of the Catholic Church states that pornography “does grave injury to the dignity of its participants (actors, vendors, the public), since each one becomes an object of base pleasure and illicit profit for others” (2352), adding that pornography “offends against chastity” (2354) and is both a spiritual and a physical struggle.

“There’s never going to be a substitute for a mom and a dad in the home teaching the children not just sex education, but sex education from a biblical role model,” Jackson underscored. “We’re not going to be able to put devices on phones and computers that absolutely filter everything inappropriate out of it. So we’re going to have to teach them how to filter their hearts and minds.”