Pornhub plans to block access to its website in Arizona after the state enacted a new law requiring age verification for users of adult content.
Newsweek contacted Aylo, Pornhub’s parent company, for comment via email on Tuesday.
Why It Matters
The world’s most popular porn site has already blocked access to its website in more than a dozen states over age verification laws, which it says are often “ineffective, haphazard, and dangerous.”
Critics question whether these laws actually prevent minors from accessing adult content or simply push them to unregulated sites. The rules also raise concerns about data privacy, the security of sensitive personal information and potential First Amendment implications.
What To Know
Earlier this year, Arizona passed House Bill 2112, which requires adult websites to verify the age of their users. The bill, which Democratic Governor Katie Hobbs signed into law, is set to take effect on Friday.
Republican state Representative Nick Kupper wrote the bill, which he said he modeled after similar legislation in Texas that the U.S. Supreme Court upheld in June.
Kupper told Fox 10 that anyone accessing adult content would need to verify their age using an ID, face scan or credit card, and that companies could choose between a first-party or third-party verification method.
He said companies would not be allowed to store the data and would have to delete it once the site had been accessed.
Any companies that violate the law could be sued by children’s parents and could face thousands of dollars in fines.
In a lengthy statement to Fox 10, Aylo said that while it supported age verification for users, many of the current laws were flawed.
The company said: “Unfortunately, the way many jurisdictions worldwide have chosen to implement age verification is ineffective, haphazard, and dangerous. Any regulations that require hundreds of thousands of adult sites to collect significant amounts of highly sensitive personal information is putting user safety in jeopardy.
“Moreover, as experience has demonstrated, unless properly enforced, users will simply access non-compliant sites or find other methods of evading these laws.”
The company said Pornhub had complied with a similar law in Louisiana, which resulted in traffic to its site dropping by 80 percent.
According to Aylo, these laws do not deter people from looking for porn but drives them to unregulated sites that don’t comply with the law, making the “internet more dangerous for adults and children.”
The company advocates a different approach to verifying users’ ages, saying it should be done directly on devices rather than requiring users to hand over personal data to websites.
Notably, Aylo has complied with new age verification laws in the United Kingdom. It said Ofcom, the country’s communications regulator, provides a flexible and enforceable framework that protects minors while safeguarding user privacy.
What People Are Saying
Arizona state Representative Nick Kupper, who wrote the age verification law, told Fox 10: “Luckily, both sides of the aisle agree that pornography is harmful to minors.”
Aylo, Pornhub’s parent company, told Fox 10 in a statement: “We are eager to be part of this solution and are happy to collaborate with government, civil society and tech partners to arrive at an effective device-based age verification solution.”
What Happens Next
Pornhub is set to block its website in Arizona beginning on Friday. The broader impact and effectiveness of these age verification laws remains to be seen.
