Pornhub has shut down its website in Texas in response to the state’s online age verification law. The website is now displaying a message to users in the state saying that having to provide ID when accessing adult websites “is not an effective solution to protecting users online.”
“As you are aware, Texas elected officials require us to verify your age before allowing you to access our website,” Pornhub said in a notice to users. “Not only does it violate an adult’s right to protected speech, but it also fails strict scrutiny because it employs the least efficient and most restrictive means of achieving Texas’ purported purpose of protecting minors. . ”
Pornhub believes that on-device age verification is “the only effective solution to protect minors and adults.” This method may involve using facial recognition or other methods to verify the user’s age locally on the user’s device.
“Unfortunately, Texas’ age verification laws are ineffective, arbitrary and dangerous,” Alex Kekesi, Aylo’s vice president of brand and community, said in an emailed statement. edge. “Not only will it not truly protect children, it will inevitably reduce the ability of content creators to publish and distribute legitimate adult content and directly impact their ability to share the artistic messages they want to convey.”
Pornhub may soon run into problems outside the United States as well. The European Union’s Digital Services Act (DSA) designates Pornhub and other adult websites as “very large online platforms,” which could require them to implement age verification and remove illegal content.Pornhub reportedly filed a lawsuit against the EU last month over its designation practices Politico.
