A real dislike: Pornhub is pulling out of Virginia and blocking in-state users from accessing its site in protest of the state’s new law
- Virginia residents are no longer able to 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 pornography websites to verify the age of their users before granting access to prevent children from accessing such content
- Pornhub argues that the law actually puts children’s and users’ privacy at greater risk, as it could lead people to visit sites with lesser security measures
One of the most visited websites in the world, Pornhub, has banned users in Virginia over the state’s new age verification law.
The new law, which goes into effect July 1, now requires that websites with pornographic content displayed in Virginia must verify that users are at least 18 years old before they can view the site.
The bill, proposed by Republican Senator William M. Stanley Jr. (Franklin), passed the Virginia General Assembly.
“The safety of our users is one of our top concerns.” “We believe that the best and most effective solution to protect children and adults is to identify users by their device and based on this identification to access age-restricted materials and websites enable,” Pornhub wrote in a message to those who sign up.
“Pending a real solution being offered, we have made the difficult decision to completely shut down access to our Virginia site.”
“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 adult site’s landing page, Virginians were treated to a video of adult entertainer Cherie DeVille — fully clothed
Pornhub was pulled from Virginia after they were ordered to verify users’ ages
The new law doesn’t mean a total ban on pornographic content — adult sites just need to put in place some method of verifying a user’s age, e.g. by requiring people to submit digital copies of their ID or face scans online, but Pornhub doesn’t want users through such attempts.
“The governor remains committed to protecting Virginia’s children from harmful content online,” a spokeswoman for Governor Glenn Youngkin said in a statement.
The Free Speech Coalition recently filed a lawsuit challenging a similar law that went into effect in Utah. It’s not clear if the Virginia group will do anything similar.
“The question is not if these laws will be declared unconstitutional, but when,” Mike Stabile, spokesman for the Free Speech Coalition, told 8News.
Alison Boden, executive director of the Free Speech Coalition, wrote a letter to Republican Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin, urging him to veto Stanley’s bill.
MindGeek, Pornhub’s parent company, owns many of the most popular porn sites online, including RedTube, Digital Playground, and YouPorn
“The governor remains committed to protecting Virginia’s children from harmful content online,” 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 business is valued at $97 billion, with between $10 and $12 billion in the US alone
Boden wrote that the group supports efforts to “protect young people from age-appropriate or harmful material,” but listed the issues she had with the bill.
“Adult content — including content harmful to minors — is First Amendment protected expression, and the Supreme Court has repeatedly ruled that restrictions on its production and consumption are subject to the highest legal hurdle: rigorous scrutiny,” Boden wrote to Youngkin.
Many corporate websites outside of the US are also unlikely to comply with the new laws.
In addition to Utah and Virginia, Louisiana, Arkansas and Mississippi have also passed similar laws that proponents say will help protect children from sexually explicit material.