Texas residents can no longer access Pornhub without a VPN. As of Thursday, when people in Texas try to access any porn site owned by Aylo (formerly MindGeek), they see a long message objecting to the age verification law.
States such as Louisiana, Mississippi, Virginia, Utah, Montana and North Carolina have taken effect requiring age verification on adult entertainment websites. But Texas’ age verification law has stalled after a group of porn industry advocates and companies challenged the legislation, leading a U.S. district judge to rule that enforcement could undermine free speech protections. Last week, a U.S. appeals court ruled that Texas can indeed enforce the law.
Although these laws aim to prevent minors from accessing adult content, advocacy groups such as the Electronic Frontier Foundation and the think tank R Street have long opposed website age checks because they could threaten data security and anonymity. Rather than implementing age checks (which Pornhub calls “arbitrary and dangerous”), the site simply cuts off access in states with such laws.
“Because age verification software requires users to hand over extremely sensitive information, it opens the door to data breach risks,” Pornhub wrote on its blog. “Regardless of your good intentions, governments have a history of trying to protect this data. .”
Pornhub hasn’t always taken this approach. Louisiana was the first state to enact such a law in early 2023. Initially, Pornhub conducted age verification through the state-run LA Wallet app, which was linked to Louisiana residents’ ID cards. In other words, the law requires you to verify your government ID in order to view pornography.
Once these laws expanded to other states, Pornhub and Aylo’s other sites took different approaches. In some states that require an age check to access adult sites, you’ll see a Safe Work video posted by porn star Cherie DeVille, in which she explains Pornhub’s stance on current data privacy issues.
Adult performers residing in these states can still use Pornhub through their creator accounts because they have verified their identity as a prerequisite for uploading content to the site.
These changes to state internet regulations come as Congress debates access to online platforms. The Children’s Online Safety Act and similar bills have strong support in Congress after numerous hearings with tech CEOs on children’s online safety, but there is a widespread perception that these safety measures will not be implemented if bad actors implement them. Many of these can backfire. Meanwhile, the House of Representatives this week passed a bill that could ban TikTok and other “apps controlled by foreign adversaries.” Now, the TikTok bill will be debated in the Senate, which could have broader implications for government intervention in tech.
