Starting January 1, 2025, the way you access adult sites from Florida will change. More precisely, a law approved in March 2024 will come into effect, forcing porn sites to use age verification checks to prevent access to minors. Websites will be free to choose a method for age verification, but most porn sites will ask for your government ID or a face scan.
Preventing minors from accessing sexually explicit content is always a welcome decision, but Florida's new porn law isn't without issues. Being forced to hand over your sensitive information could become a privacy nightmare in the case of a data leak. In the long run, your porn-watching habits could be exposed online. However, those issues could be prevented by using a reliable VPN.
In this guide, we'll explain Florida's new porn law and how it affects your digital privacy. We'll also discuss whether you should use a VPN to bypass Florida's porn ban and how to use one, and we'll also provide a series of FAQs to clarify the topic further.
Florida's new porn law, also known as HB 3, will become active on January 1, 2025. It's based on the premise that when exposed to sexually explicit content, minors become prone to emotional issues and distorted views on their perception of a relationship, and they also become exposed to predators both offline and online.
As a result, Florida will soon ask sites with at least 33.33% adult content to prohibit access to minors through an age verification check by "using either an anonymous or standard age verification method." The law also notes: "If an anonymous age verification method is used, the verification must be conducted by a nongovernmental, independent third party organized under the laws of a state of the U.S."
It's also important to note that Florida isn't the first state to implement age verification checks for porn sites. Similar requirements exist in Arkansas, Idaho, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Montana, Mississippi, Nebraska, North Carolina, Texas, Utah, and Virginia.
Those who violate the new law's requirements may be fined up to $50,000 per violation. The state also goes one step further and says that account holders who are minors may also be fined up to $10,000.
The problem with digital age verification is that it creates serious privacy concerns. If incorrectly implemented and maintained, highly sensitive databases could be exposed online through leaks or breaches. After all, that information is highly valuable to malicious actors, who will most certainly try to access and obtain it.
Aylo, the company behind brands such as PornHub, YouPorn, Tube8, and more, has said to Florida Politics that "any regulations that require hundreds of thousands of adult sites to collect significant amounts of highly sensitive personal information is putting user safety in jeopardy. Moreover, as experience has demonstrated, unless properly enforced, users will simply access non-compliant sites or find other methods of evading these laws."
That's why PornHub and related adult websites will stop serving Florida users on January 1, 2025. If you visit the porn site today, you'll see a message explaining why forcing porn sites to implement age verification checks isn't the best way to prevent access to minors. Even though you can still access PornHub's content, that will change in just a couple of days.
Yes, you should definitely use a VPN when accessing porn in Florida. VPNs allow you to bypass age verification checks and preserve your digital privacy. As such, they're the most effective digital tool to prevent possible data leaks in the long run.
Connecting to a VPN server in a location with unrestricted access to porn lets you bypass Florida's age verification checks. Therefore, you'll bypass the entire data-logging procedure. On top of that, using VPN for porn has data encryption to ensure you're not tracked online, so your porn-watching habits will remain a secret.
Of course, VPNs aren't only used to watch adult content, as they feature numerous privacy benefits. So, here's a brief overview of what a VPN brings:
Use a reputable and capable VPN provider to gain all the benefits explained above. If you want the best option, go for NordVPN, our team's top-rated VPN provider. With this VPN, you'll make it easy to unblock any porn site and evade age verification checks on any device you might own and use.
Using a VPN to bypass Florida's porn ban requires you to connect to a server in a region where no age verifications exist. Just do the following:
Yes, it's legal to watch porn in Florida without a VPN - as long as you're not a minor. VPNs are legal across the United States. You're free to pick any commercially available VPN service and utilize it to protect your privacy and bypass digital censorship. So, legally speaking, a VPN won't get you in trouble.
Once again, we remind you that Florida doesn't permit minors to access adult content online. Even though VPNs can make you virtually invisible online, respecting local laws is crucial. Therefore, we recommend VPNs to those aged 18 and older who wish to avoid having their highly sensitive data logged.
Even though the intention behind Florida's new porn law seems justified, asking porn sites to log your sensitive information is very problematic. Trusting companies behind porn sites to handle your sensitive data with care is too much to ask for, making it crucial to take this matter into your own hands.
Right now, there's no better option than to use a VPN to regain access to porn sites in Florida. We'll remind you that VPNs help you evade age verification checks while giving you unrestricted access to any porn site on the web. Therefore, you'll resolve any privacy concerns in the long run.
Of course, don't trust just about any VPN out there. Our hands-on tests show that NordVPN is the most effective option. It offers servers across the US and the rest of the world, employs strong encryption, bypasses geo-blocks, and plenty more.