Pornhub has blocked Utah from accessing in protest of the age-verification law in the state, Salt Lake City's FOX13 reported.
Age-verification laws require visitors to adult sites to show proof that they're over 18. The first in the recent wave of U.S. bills was Louisiana's Act 440, which went into effect Jan. 1, 2023. Utah soon followed with its version: SB 287, which requires websites that contain "a substantial portion of material that may be harmful to minors" to use a commercial age-verification system, or AVS. According to a tracker by the Free Speech Coalition, a porn industry lobby group, the enforcement date for SB 287 is May 3.
Ahead of that, Pornhub itself blocked Utah from accessing the site. There was initially a 403 error (meaning a forbidden site), according to FOX13, then later, Pornhub posted a message:
Dear user,
As you may know, your elected officials in Utah are requiring us to verify your age before allowing you access to our website. While safety and compliance are at the forefront of our mission, giving your ID card every time you want to visit an adult platform is not the most effective solution for protecting our users, and in fact, will put children and your privacy at risk.
In addition, mandating age verification without proper enforcement gives platforms the opportunity to choose whether or not to comply. As we’ve seen in other states, this just drives traffic to sites with far fewer safety measures in place. Very few sites are able to compare to the robust Trust and Safety measures we currently have in place. To protect children and user privacy, any legislation must be enforced against all platforms offering adult content.
The safety of our users is one of our biggest concerns. We believe that the best and most effective solution for protecting children and adults alike is to identify users by their device and allow access to age-restricted materials and websites based on that identification. Until a real solution is offered, we have made the difficult decision to completely disable access to our website in Utah.
Please contact your representatives before it is too late and demand device-based verification solutions that make the internet safer while also respecting your privacy.
A video at the top of the page features adult performer Cherie DeVille reading the letter.
Sen. Todd Weiler, the sponsor of SB 287, told FOX13 in a text message: "They are complying with LA's law, which is essentially the same. So I expect they will eventually comply with Utah's as well."
A Pornhub spokesperson claimed to Mashable that the site is one of the few adult content platforms that has complied with the digital ID wallet requirement in Louisiana. Utah's digital ID wallet, they noted, doesn't currently allow for online use, so Pornhub can't use it, even though it has tried. The company says that in Louisiana, Pornhub traffic has dropped 80 percent since the introduction of its age-verification law. They note that given the unlikelihood of people simply no longer looking for porn, its likely they are relying on sites that don't comply. Pornhub maintains its position that device-level verification is the effective solution.
Update: This article has been updated to include paraphrased comment from a Pornhub spokesperson.
