Pornhub will cease operations in five more states this summer due to new legislation requiring age verification on adult entertainment sites. The move comes in response to a wave of recently passed laws requiring pornographic websites and other platforms with explicit adult-only content to collect proof of the ages of their users. In all of these states, that means people will need to upload a copy of their driver’s license or other government ID, or sign up for a third-party age verification service, in order to use sites like Pornhub.
From Pornhub said the latest sites for closures are , , , And . The site said it would end its operations in those states in July 2024. The site was shut down It also blocked access to its site in Arkansas, Mississippi, , and Virginia in response to similar state legislation.
Lawmakers from these states who supported age verification laws said the rules would prevent children from watching explicit content. For example, the Kentucky bill framed pornography as a “public health crisis” with a “devastating impact” on children.
Pornhub’s parent company, Aylo, responded that the approach taken by these laws puts users’ privacy at risk and may not actually prevent minors from seeing explicit content. after Aiello remained working with the government-backed age verification service, and Pornhub traffic in the state dropped by 80 percent.
“These people have not stopped looking for pornography,” Aiello told. . “They have just migrated to dark corners of the internet that don’t ask users to verify age, don’t follow the law, don’t take user safety seriously, and which often don’t moderate content.” Company A device-based age verification solution rather than state legislation to keep minors off adults-only sites.
The Electronic Frontier Foundation also raised privacy concerns about these bills, noting that no method of age verification is completely foolproof. “No one should hand over their driver’s license just to access free websites. That’s why the EFF opposes mandatory age verification laws, no matter how well-intentioned,” the organization said in a statement. .