Pornhub Halts Website Access in Texas Due to Age-Verification Law

“Pornhub and Affiliated Adult Websites Block Access in Texas Amid Legal Battle Over Age-Verification Law

Following a federal appeals court’s decision to uphold a Texas law mandating age-verification measures on pornography sites, Pornhub and other related adult websites have restricted access to users in Texas. The law requires these sites to implement measures ensuring that only adults aged 18 and older can access them. However, a part of the law requiring the display of “health warnings” about the content was struck down by the court. This decision came after a federal judge previously ruled that the Texas law violated the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution, which prohibits free-speech restrictions. The Texas Attorney General’s Office promptly appealed this decision.”

“A new message displayed on Thursday to users accessing Pornhub (and other sites operated by parent company Aylo) from internet addresses in Texas explained that access was being disabled to comply with the law, as first reported by the Houston Chronicle.”

“The message reads, ‘As you may know, your elected officials in Texas are requiring us to verify your age before allowing you access to our website. Not only does this impinge on the rights of adults to access protected speech, it fails strict scrutiny by employing the least effective and yet also most restrictive means of accomplishing Texas’s stated purpose of allegedly protecting minors.’”

The message from the Pornhub sites continued, stating, “Until the real solution is offered, we have made the difficult decision to completely disable access to our website in Texas. In doing so, we are complying with the law, as we always do, but hope that governments around the world will implement laws that actually protect the safety and security of users.”

Additionally, the message highlighted concerns about the effectiveness of age verification measures, stating, “While safety and compliance are at the forefront of our mission, providing identification every time you want to visit an adult platform is not an effective solution for protecting users online, and in fact, will put minors and your privacy at risk. The safety of our users is one of our biggest concerns. We believe that the only effective solution for protecting minors and adults alike is to verify users’ age on their device and to either deny or allow access to age-restricted materials and websites based on that verification.”

Pornhub criticized the Texas age-verification as “ineffective, haphazard, and dangerous,” expressing concerns that it would compel users “from those few websites which comply, to the thousands of websites, with far fewer safety measures in place, which do not comply.” The statement emphasized Pornhub’s existing robust Trust and Safety measures and underscored the importance of enforcing legislation uniformly across all platforms offering adult content to effectively protect minors and user privacy.

The Texas law, signed by Republican Gov. Greg Abbott in June 2023, is known as Texas H.B. 11811. It was originally slated to take effect on Sept. 1 but was put on hold after the Free Speech Coalition, a group that includes Pornhub’s parent company, filed a lawsuit resulting in a preliminary injunction staying its enforcement. The law applies to online publishers whose content consists of more than one-third “sexual material harmful to minors” and mandates age verification for all visitors using a government-issued ID or “public or private transactional data.”

Representatives for Pornhub and its parent company, Aylo, have not yet responded to requests for additional information.In addition to Texas, Pornhub and its network of other sites face blockages or restrictions in Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Montana, North Carolina, Virginia, and Utah, which have implemented similar laws.

Aylo, the parent company of Pornhub, is owned by Canadian private-equity firm Ethical Capital Partners. Last year, ECP acquired Pornhub’s predecessor company, MindGeek, although the financial terms of the acquisition were not disclosed. ECP has expressed its commitment to enhancing the company’s “trust and safety” measures and aims to establish it as a leader in combating illegal online content on the internet.