Pornhub Blocks Site Access in Texas Over Age Verification Dispute

Texas residents can no longer access Pornhub or any porn site owned by Aylo Global Entertainment as of March 14.

In protest over HB 1181, the state’s age verification bill, the adult entertainment company was forced to add Texas to its growing list of US states where visitors are prevented from accessing its pornographic online content.

Pornhub has already blocked access to its site in several US states, including Louisiana, Mississippi, Virginia, Utah, Montana, and North Carolina, due to similar age verification laws that were passed.

Although these laws have been mainly enacted to protect under-18 children from accessing adult content, various advocacy groups in the US and even the UK oppose online age checks due to serious privacy concerns.

Citing similar views, Pornhub calls this law “ineffective and dangerous.”

“Since age verification software requires users to hand over extremely sensitive information, it opens the door for the risk of data breaches,’’ Pornhub said in a blog on its website. “Whether or not your intentions are good, governments have historically struggled to secure this data. It also creates an opportunity for criminals to exploit and extort people through phishing attempts…’’

At first, Pornhub did comply with the law when it went into effect in Louisiana, where it ran age checks through the state-run LA Wallet app. However, after noticing an almost 80% drop in visitor traffic, the company decided to block user access in states requiring age verification for adult websites.

Citing safe online practices, Pornhub has instead advocated device-based age verification, placing the responsibility on operating system developers.

The company argues that having a centralized operating system age verification system will not only reduce privacy risk, but also simplify the process for regulators.

“However, the best and most effective solution for protecting minors and adults alike is to identify users at the source: by their device, or account on the device, and allow access to age-restricted materials and websites based on that identification,” Pornhub’s statement reads.

The entertainment site reassured content creators in these states that they can still use Pornhub with their creator accounts, as a user is required to verify their identity before uploading any content.