The U.S. crackdown on unrestricted online pornography intensified at the start of 2025, with people in Florida losing access to the world’s most popular adult website on January 1. Pornhub has campaigned against requiring age verification using government-issued identification, and along with other sites has shown its strength of feeling by blocking access within the state rather than requiring identification.

Politics aside, the multitude of US states jumping on this age verification bandwagon has sparked a rush to VPNs normally only seen in war-torn, autocratic or heavily censored markets – specifically Iran, Russia, China and North Korea as Florida, Texas and South Carolina. VPNMentor told me that after the new law went into effect on January 1st, they “saw a 1,150% increase in VPN demand (in Florida) in the first few hours, which they describe as “astonishing.”

This follows similar increases in other states: “Pornhub’s ban on Utah-based users led to a 967% increase in VPN demand… and last year, the passage of age-restriction laws for adult websites in Texas led to a surge in demand.” by 234%. in the state.”

ForbesMicrosoft Update Decision – 65% of all Windows users are now at riskFrom Zak Doffman

Per TechDirt As of Monday, “nearly 139 million U.S. residents live in states that have age verification laws that specifically target adult entertainment platforms.” The ban on access to content — whether personal information is complete or absent — is a Minefield for data protection. As EFF warned again last week: “Mandatory age verification tools are surveillance systems that threaten everyone’s rights to expression and privacy and cause more harm than they seek to address.”

VPNs allow users to disguise their locations and pretend they are somewhere they are not by routing their web traffic through a server in that other location. With a click or a tap, a user no longer pretends to be in Florida and is suddenly transported to New York or Boston – or even Singapore or London. As Cybernews says: “A VPN is the most reliable way to get around these restrictions,” while Gizmodo reports that “adults in Florida will start using a VPN starting January 1st.”

However, before you download and install a VPN that promises to remove these restrictions, you need to be careful – you may be putting your data and device at very big risk. And this risk is particularly great for those who use mobile devices—iPhones, iPads, and Android devices—which are plagued with cheap and nasty VPNs that may mask your location but come with significant, hidden costs.

Most US citizens have little or no need for a VPN. Web traffic is safe and the risk of public Wi-Fi is greatly exaggerated – as long as you don’t send sensitive, unencrypted content. There is no need to worry about revealing your location through your IP address or the identity of the websites you visit. At least not for most users. But with 3 billion monthly visits to the Pornhub website from the US, the new restrictions suddenly change everything.

Last month, the US Cyber ​​Defense Agency warned against using personal VPNs because they “simply shift residual risks from your ISP to the VPN provider, often increasing the attack surface.”

These risks are particularly prevalent on mobile devices offered by app stores, where the VPN industry has grown significantly in recent years. In November, Kaspersky warned that installations of dangerous free VPNs increased sharply in the third quarter, increasing “by 2.5 times globally compared to the second quarter.” These apps were malware or programs that could potentially be used by malicious actors. This increase continued in the fourth quarter.”

Meanwhile, specialist website Top10VPN tested the leading free VPNs on Google’s Play Store and found that 10% of apps “had encryption errors”, almost 90% “had some kind of leak” and three quarters “shared personal data with third parties”. parties,” while 20% were flagged as malware.

For VPN newbies, here are some golden rules to ensure your security:

1. Only install VPNs from the Play Store or App Store
2. Only use paid VPNs with an open subscription at a reasonable price, never with disguised in-app purchases
3. Only use VPNs from well-known developers that you can easily research and find on mainstream websites, and never use VPNs based in China
4. Always make sure Play Protect is enabled when using Android, and never disable or pause Play Protect to install a VPN marked as risky
5. If Android 15’s new live threat detection flags an app, take action

ForbesGoogle Chrome update – bad news for Microsoft WindowsFrom Zak Doffman

I’m not advocating for users to circumvent new regulations, but I Am We urge users to ensure that they do not take greater risks than they can handle. Kaspersky warns: “There is a growing demand for VPN apps… Users tend to believe that a VPN app they find in an official store like Google Play is safe and can be used to get content that originally were not available.” at their location. And they think it’s even better if this VPN service is free! However, this often turns out to be a trap.”