Italy will soon join a growing number of countries enforcing strict age verification for online pornography. Beginning November 12, users in Italy will need to prove they are adults before accessing major pornographic websites, under new regulations announced by AGCOM, the country’s communications authority.

The rule aims to prevent minors from accessing explicit content, but it has already sparked a heated debate over privacy, data protection, and digital freedom.

Under the new system, users attempting to visit sites such as Pornhub, XHamster, XVideos, RedTube, and OnlyFans will be required to verify their age through a certified third party, such as a bank, telecom provider, or another company already holding personal identification data.

Once verified, users receive a temporary digital code confirming that they are over 18. That code grants access to the site without revealing the user’s identity to the website. The process is designed with what regulators call a “double anonymity” safeguard:

• The verification company can see the user’s identity but not the site they are visiting.
• The porn site can see that the user is of age, but not who they are.

According to AGCOM’s regulation No. 96/25/CONS, this check must be completed each time a user attempts to access a covered website.

Websites that fail to comply with the new rules could face fines of up to €250,000 (about $288,000). AGCOM’s initial compliance list includes around 50 adult platforms, although the regulator stated that more may be added as enforcement begins.

The measure follows similar initiatives introduced in France earlier this year and in the United Kingdom, where comparable requirements caused Pornhub’s traffic to drop by 77 percent after the system went live in July, according to data from the site’s owner, Aylo.

Despite assurances from regulators, privacy advocates, and internet users have raised alarms about potential risks to anonymity. Critics argue that forcing citizens to confirm their identity before viewing adult content creates opportunities for misuse, data breaches, and government overreach.

“This is not about porn — it’s about identity and control,” one user wrote on Reddit in response to the news. “Turns out people will give up their identity for access to porn.”

Others noted that the move could drive users toward unregulated and potentially unsafe websites, or prompt a surge in VPN usage, similar to what occurred in the UK, where VPN downloads reportedly spiked by over 4,000 percent after age verification rules took effect.

Italy’s new regulation comes amid a wave of similar age-verification laws worldwide. Over the past year, several U.S. states, including Louisiana, Texas, and Utah, have introduced similar measures. Meanwhile, France, the UK, and Australia have each pursued or piloted national systems to restrict minors’ access to adult materials.

With 59 million residents affected, Italy becomes one of the largest nations to adopt such a system. AGCOM says the move reflects a growing European consensus that platforms must take greater responsibility for protecting minors online.

However, as seen in other countries, the question remains whether these systems will protect children effectively or push adult audiences toward the darker, unregulated corners of the internet.