Adult entertainment online destination Pornhub has made a version of its website available on Tor, a privacy-focused browser that makes it more difficult to monitor users’ online activity.

Users can now access Pornhub on the Tor Network via an Onion URL at http://pornhubthbh7ap3u.onion/. The move serves to bolster user privacy, ensure network security, and alleviate concerns about browsing habits among LGBT users whose preferences remain criminalized in certain countries. While certain site capabilities such as account login and consequently, the ability to upload content are disabled while using the Tor site, users are nonetheless able to enjoy safe and anonymous browsing on the platform.

“Here at Pornhub, we are privacy-conscious and dedicated to ensuring the confidentiality of our users. As ill-willed hackers and compromising surveillance practices become growing concerns, it’s important that we set up internal safeguards to help anonymize the online activity and communication of our users and keep their personal information and digital footprint free from prying eyes,” said Corey Price, VP, Pornhub. “Over the course of the past few years, companies like Facebook, The New York Times and the BBC have set up Tor mirror sites to encrypt and make individual connections on the Internet less traceable. We wanted to follow in their footsteps and introduce a Tor mirror site for Pornhub users. This will help ensure their browsing experience is anonymous, private and secure.”

A Tor browser attempts to hide a person's location and identity by sending data across the Internet via a very circuitous route and routing it through a series of other computers. Encryption applied at each point along this route makes it very hard to connect a person to any particular browsing activity.

In 2018, Pornhub announced the launch of a free virtual private network (VPN) to provide users with a solution that provides an encrypted connection that protects user’s privacy and personal information, allowing them the freedom to browse the Internet anonymously and without restrictions. That same year the company announced it is accepting cryptocurrency to keep current with its community’s payment preferences, allowing users to make anonymous transactions by obfuscating the IP address and geolocation of its users so that they are untraceable, to pay for all Pornhub purchases. Furthermore, in 2017 the company announced a switch to HTTPS as part of a major security upgrade against hackers and malware.