SYDNEY, Australia – Pornhub has resumed access in Australia eight months after withdrawing from the country over stricter age-verification laws, but the platform will initially be available only to adults using age-verified Apple devices.
Pornhub parent company Aylo announced on Wednesday that it was restoring access for “eligible adult users in Australia” who have confirmed their age through Apple’s Australian age-verification system.
The world’s largest pornography website withdrew from the Australian market in March after new laws required users to prove they were at least 18 before accessing adult content.
At the time, Aylo argued that the rules would not adequately protect children and raised concerns that the measures could create additional data-privacy risks.
Apple Age Verification Opens Door
Apple recently introduced age-verification measures in Australia following a similar rollout in the United Kingdom.
Under the system, Apple users can confirm they are adults using a credit card, passport, driver’s licence or government-issued identification.
Aylo said Apple’s approach had “set a benchmark” by making child-safety protections the default on its devices unless users confirm they are adults.
The company said this means phones and tablets begin with restrictions designed to protect children, while verified adults can access age-appropriate services.
“For years, Aylo has advocated for device-based age verification as the most effective and privacy-protecting approach to help prevent minors from accessing age-inappropriate content online,” said Aylo Vice-President of Brand and Community Alex Kekesi.
She said Australians using age-verified Apple devices would receive the standard experience available to adult users.
Australia Tightens Online Age Rules
Australia introduced stricter online age-verification requirements in March covering adult content, including pornography, R-rated video games and sexually explicit artificial-intelligence chatbots.
The country’s online safety regulator said the measures were intended to protect children from harmful online material, with platforms facing penalties for failing to comply.
The rules have nevertheless attracted criticism over privacy concerns and the possibility that users could circumvent age-verification systems.
Critics have raised questions about technologies including facial recognition, digital identification and credit-card-based age checks.
Aylo Raises Privacy Argument
Aylo said device-based verification could reduce the amount of personal information users need to provide directly to individual websites.
Kekesi argued that default child-safety settings could prevent adults from having to provide personal information repeatedly across different applications and websites.
The company also said Apple’s approach could reduce the effectiveness of virtual private networks (VPNs) as a way of bypassing age-verification requirements.
VPNs can make it appear that a user is accessing a website from another country, potentially allowing them to circumvent location-based restrictions.
For now, however, access to Pornhub in Australia remains conditional on users meeting the age-verification requirements through supported Apple devices.
