Free speech on the internet is under attack as more states pass age-verification laws. Pornhub has been made inaccessible in 16 U.S. states, most of them in the South. These age-verification laws require users to upload some form of government identification, which is also a huge privacy problem. Free Speech Coalition, an adult industry advocacy group, is currently challenging these laws in Tennessee. A representative from Pornhub confirmed their site was inaccessible in the following states: Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Idaho, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Mississippi, Montana, Nebraska, North Carolina, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Texas, Utah, and Virginia.
On January 1, Florida, South Carolina, and Tennessee saw these laws go into effect, according to the Free Speech Coalition. North Carolina and Montana have had these laws in effect for over a year now. Because of the legal liability presented by this age-verification, PH has elected to pull access from these states. When users in the states above try to access the site, they are met with a pop-up message describing why they are unable to proceed.
The constitutionality of the law has come into question by judges already. While Tennessee’s law was supposed to go into effect on January 1, a judge granted a preliminary injunction blocking it on December 30.
The problems with such laws are varied. Partially, it puts a legal liability on the sites, as stated above, and some states such as Florida impose a hefty fine for sites that contain “material harmful to minors” that do not utilize age verification processes. PH parent company Aylo came out to speak on age-verification methods, which they are in support of, but disagree with the methods being used: “We believe that any law to this effect must preserve user safety and privacy, and must effectively protect children from accessing content intended for adults. Unfortunately, the way many jurisdictions worldwide have chosen to implement age verification is ineffective, haphazard, and dangerous.”
Having to upload digital versions of driver’s licenses or government identification poses a threat to the users of the site. These documents have all of their personal information on them, and to require their uploading puts this information at risk. Another problem with these laws is that “material harmful to minors” is a very broad category, as the American Civil Liberties Union put it. The ACLU states, “This law could apply to porn sites, as well as sexual health organizations, sites that host R-rated movies, and any website that contains nudity or descriptions of sexual organs or activities.” This law also poses a threat to any site hosting LGBTQ+ news or history (yes, which could include OFM!), especially as the right continues to call anything queer “pornographic.”
The Electronic Frontier Foundation warns about age-verification laws, as the information provided by users could “be retained and used by the website, or further shared or even sold.”
