- Last week, a Texas appeals court upheld the law, and the fight is likely to continue. The Court of Appeal struck down a law requiring users to flash a health and safety warning before logging on
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The world’s largest adult content site, Pornhub, has blocked users from accessing it and its sister sites in Texas over a dispute over an age verification law the Lone Star State passed in 2023.
Last week, a Texas appeals court upheld the law, and the fight is likely to continue. The Court of Appeal struck down a law requiring users to flash a health and safety warning before logging on.
The Texas Attorney General’s office appealed that decision. Governor Greg Abbott signed the bill into law in October 2023.
Those trying to access Pornhub in Texas on Thursday were met with a message explaining the Canadian-based company’s position. A 2023 survey found that 58 percent of Americans have viewed porn at some point.
‘As you may know, your elected officials in Texas require us to verify your age before they grant you access to our website.’
“Not only does this affect adults’ right to access protected speech, it fails strict scrutiny by using the least effective and yet also most restrictive means to achieve Texas’ stated purpose of allegedly protecting minors,” the statement reads.
Pornhub is owned by Aylo Holdings and is based in Canada
Governor Greg Abbott signed the bill requiring age verification into law in October 2023
The message that greets users trying to access Pornhub in Texas
The message goes on to state that Pornhub believes that age verifications ‘are not an effective solution to protect users online and will actually put minors and your privacy at risk.’
Texas Republican Attorney General Ken Paxton immediately fired back at X.
‘PornHub has now disabled its website in Texas. Sites like PornHub are on the run because Texas has a law aimed at preventing them from showing harmful, obscene material to children. We recently secured a major victory against PornHub and other sites that tried to block this law…’ he wrote.
The Texas law is one of several similar age verification laws passed in other states, including Arkansas, Mississippi, Utah and Louisiana.
The Texas law carried fines of up to $10,000 per violation that could be raised up to $250,000 per violation of a minor.
The Utah law was upheld by a federal judge who last month dismissed a lawsuit challenging it.
Arkansas’ law, which would have required parental consent for children to create new social media accounts, was struck down by a federal judge Thursday, and a lawsuit challenging the Louisiana law is pending.
Opponents have argued that age-verification laws for adult websites not only infringe on free speech but also threaten digital privacy because it is impossible to ensure that websites do not retain user-identifying data.
In 2023, Pornhub’s owners paid out $1.8 million after admitting to profiting from sex trafficking and agreeing to make payments to women whose videos were posted without their consent in a New York court
“States are trying to end the First Amendment by outsourcing censorship to citizens,” said Alison Boden, the executive director of the Free Speech Coalition in 2023.
‘It is a new mechanism, but a deeply flawed one. Government attempts to chill speech, regardless of method, are prohibited by the Constitution and decades of legal precedent.’
Also in 2023, Pornhub’s owners paid out $1.8 million after admitting to profiting from sex trafficking and agreeing to make payments to women whose videos were posted without their consent in a New York court.
Aylo Holdings, the website’s parent company, reached a deferred prosecution agreement to resolve a charge of engaging in illegal money transactions involving sex-trade proceeds.
Prosecutors said Aylo has agreed to pay restitution to victims, but details such as who is eligible and how they can apply will be forthcoming.
The charge stemmed from Aylo’s role in hosting videos and accepting payments from GirlsDoPorn.