Adult entertainment website Pornhub blocked access to its content from Texas on Thursday in response to a new law requiring age verification to access pornographic material in the state.
That made Texas the eighth state to have access to Pornhub blocked by the website, following Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Montana, North Carolina, Utah and Virginia according to USA Today.
Supporters of the new laws say they are needed to prevent minors from accessing pornographic content online. However, critics argue they also block access for many adults and that this constitutes a First Amendment violation.
Users attempting to access Pornhub in Texas from Thursday were met with a message reading: "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' stated purpose of allegedly protecting minors."
Texas House Bill 1181, requiring age verification for access to online pornography, came into effect in September 2023, but was initially blocked by an injunction. Last week, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit concluded the legislation didn't violate the First Amendment as claimed by the Free Speech Coalition.
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton has warned websites they could face fines of up to $10,000 per day if "a child is exposed to pornographic content due to not properly verifying a user's age."
Reacting to last week's court ruling, he said: "Texas has a right to protect its children from the detrimental effects of pornographic content.
"I look forward to holding any company accountable that violates our age verification laws intended to prevent minors from being exposed to harmful, obscene material on the internet."
In a statement sent to Newsweek, Alex Kekesi, Pornhub's vice president of brand and community, commented: "Unfortunately the Texas law for age verification is ineffective, haphazard, and dangerous.
"Not only will it not actually protect children, it will inevitably reduce content creators' ability to post and distribute legal adult content and directly impact their ability to share the artistic messages they want to convey with it.
"Content creators are unfairly targeted as they will lose out on the revenue that would have come from millions of users in Texas now no longer able to access our platform."
Kekesi added that Pornhub is consulting its legal team and "reviewing options," adding: "This is not the end."
While the specifics vary between states, in general the new laws mean users are required to provide a pornographic website with a copy of their ID to obtain access, something opponents say claim some would be unwilling or unable to do.
Speaking to USA Today, Alison Boden, executive director of the Free Speech Coalition, commented: "We are fighting not only for the rights of our members and the larger adult entertainment community, but for the right of all Americans to access constitutionally protected expression in the privacy of their own home."
In 2023, the Free Speech Coalition filed a lawsuit in Utah after the state introduced age verification requirements for adult websites, resulting in a statewide block from Pornhub.
Users attempting to access Pornhub from Utah were met with a message reading: "While safety and compliance are at the forefront of our mission, giving your ID card every time you want to visit an adult platform is not the most effective solution for protecting our users, and in fact, will put children and your privacy at risk."
Google searches for "virtual private network," or VPN, surged in Utah after the law came into effect. VPNs allow computer users to disguise their locations and thus get around location specific website blocks.
The first state to require age verification to access pornographic websites was Louisiana, with the legislation taking effect in January 2023.
Pornhub blocked access to users in Montana in January 2024 after an age-verification bill passed by the state legislature came into effect.
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