If you’ve tried to get your rocks off in Utah, Virginia, or Mississippi recently, you might’ve noticed that you can’t access everyone’s adult haven of choice, Pornhub.
For those who don’t care about the when and why and just want access to their adult content ASAP, here’s a handy link to our guide on unblocking access to Pornhub.
However, if you’re a bit more curious, read on as we go through the timeline of Pornhub’s decision.
What Happened?
In response to new laws in Mississippi, Virginia, and Utah, which now demand age verification for accessing adult websites, Pornhub has taken a decisive step by blocking users from these states.
This trend started in early 2023 in Louisiana, where similar legislation kicked in. To align with the rules, Pornhub asked visitors to prove their age using the LA Wallet app, a digital tool linked to Louisiana state driver licenses.
According to Pornhub, the Louisiana move resulted in an approximately 80 percent drop in traffic. However, those seeking adult content didn’t just disappear; they migrated to corners of the internet that bypass age verification, evade legal requirements, disregard user safety measures, and often skip content moderation.
Critics of these age verification processes, including internet privacy advocates, have consistently raised concerns. Requiring users to share personal information, such as government IDs, to access the internet is viewed as problematic.
The vulnerability of government databases to hacking adds another layer of uncertainty about the reliability of these age verification tools. This type of legislation is on the rise, with Texas and Montana set to implement similar laws by 2024.
Rather than dealing with the intricacies of age verification in these affected states, Pornhub has chosen a different route. They’ve outright restricted access from Mississippi, Virginia, and Utah.
Attempting to visit Pornhub from these locations will lead you to a video where adult star Cherie DeVille explains the associated risks in a safe-for-work presentation. It seems like Pornhub is saying, “If lawmakers can’t meet us halfway on the rules, users can’t access the content.”
Is There a Better Solution?
According to Pornhub’s official statement, they’re pitching on-device age verification as the fix for the privacy concerns tied to online age checks. To put it simply, they expect parents to put in the work and block Pornhub to make sure their children don’t access inappropriate content.
In their words, “Lots of gadgets out there already come equipped with user-friendly parental control features. These tools can keep the kiddos away from adult content without spilling the beans on sensitive user info.” It sounds good in theory, but there’s a catch.
The hitch is the security challenges that tag along with this proposed solution. Not every parent is a tech whiz, and there’s a chance they might struggle to outsmart their savvy kids who find ways to bypass these protective features.
It’s like handing a teenager a jigsaw puzzle with a picture of their favorite pornstar and hoping they won’t solve it – easier said than done!
Finishing Words
Despite how frustrating regulations and Pornhub’s fight against them may be, we can’t say we didn’t see some of this coming.
Lawmakers have been coming for Pornhub for a while, and it led to the site losing most of its content and forcing them to make Pornhub Premium only accessible through Cryptocurrency.
Just in case you missed the first time, we’ve got a great guide on how you can unblock your access to Pornhub, no matter if you live in one of the titular states or if your university wifi has a no-fun-allowed policy!
