A real letdown: Pornhub pulls out of Virginia – users in the state are blocked from accessing its website in protest of new state law
- Virginians can no longer access one of the world’s most popular websites as Pornhub announced a ban in response to a new law coming into effect
- The law requires pornographic websites to verify the age of their users before granting access, with the aim of preventing children from accessing such content
- Pornhub argues that the law actually puts children’s and users’ privacy at greater risk because it could lead people to seek out sites with less security measures
One of the most visited sites in the world, Pornhub, has blocked users in Virginia due to the state’s new age verification law.
The new law, which goes into effect July 1, now requires websites with pornographic content viewed in Virginia to verify that users are at least 18 years old before they can view the site.
The law, proposed by Republican Senator William M. Stanley Jr. (Franklin), sailed through the Virginia General Assembly.
“The safety of our users is one of our biggest concerns. We believe the best and most effective solution to protect both children and adults is to identify users by their device and allow access to age-restricted materials and websites based on that identification,” Pornhub wrote in a post. to those who log in.
“Until a real solution is provided, we have made the difficult decision to completely disable access to our Virginia website.”
“We have made the difficult decision to completely disable access to our website in your region,” DeVille (above) informed visitors
Instead of finding the usual raunchy options on the landing page of the X-rated site, Virginians were treated to a video of adult entertainer Cherie DeVille — fully clothed
Pornhub was pulled out of Virginia after they were instructed to verify users’ ages
The new law doesn’t mean a complete ban on pornographic content – adult websites just need to set up a method of verifying a user’s age, such as requiring people to submit digital copies of their ID online or facial scans, but Pornhub wants its user through such tests.
“The governor remains committed to protecting Virginia’s children from dangerous materials on the Internet,” a spokeswoman for Governor Glenn Youngkin said in a statement.
The Free Speech Coalition recently filed a lawsuit against a similar law that went into effect in Utah. It’s not clear if the group will do the same in Virginia.
“It’s not a question of if these laws will be declared unconstitutional, but when,” said Mike Stabile, spokesperson for the Free Speech Coalition. 8News .
Alison Boden, executive director of the Free Speech Coalition, wrote a letter to Virginia Republican Governor Glenn Youngkin urging him to veto Stanley’s bill.
MindGeek, the parent company of Pornhub, owns many of the most popular porn sites on the web, such as RedTube, Digital Playground, and YouPorn
“The governor remains committed to protecting Virginia’s children from dangerous materials on the Internet,” a spokeswoman for Governor Glenn Youngkin, left, said in a statement. The bill was proposed by Republican Senator William M. Stanley Jr., right
Globally, the online porn industry is estimated to be worth $97 billion, of which between $10 and $12 billion in the US alone
Boden wrote that the group supports efforts to “protect young people from material that is not age appropriate or harmful,” but listed the issues she had with the bill.
“Adult content — even material harmful to minors — is First Amendment protected speech, and the Supreme Court has repeatedly held that restrictions on its production and consumption constitute the highest legal criterion: strict scrutiny,” Boden wrote to Youngkin.
Many websites owned by companies outside the US are also unlikely to comply with the new laws.
Aside from Utah and Virginia, Louisiana, Arkansas and Mississippi have passed similar laws in a move that supporters say will help protect children from sexually explicit material.