Pornhub, along with its affiliate websites including Redtube, is now inaccessible to users in Texas as a legal battle unfolds over the state’s demands for age verification.
The move comes in response to a lawsuit filed by Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton targeting the site’s age-verification practices. Visitors attempting to access the adult content site are met with a statement from Aylo Global Entertainment (formally MindGeek), the site’s owners, explaining the reasoning for the block.
“As you may know, your elected officials in Texas are requiring us to verify your age before allowing you access to our website,” the statement reads in part. “Not only does this impinge on the rights of adults to access protected speech, it fails strict scrutiny by employing the least effective and yet also most restrictive means of accomplishing Texas’ stated purpose of allegedly protecting minors.”
The legal dispute stems from a recent ruling by Texas officials to enforce a new law mandating age-verification systems on pornographic websites. This law faced opposition from Pornhub and other adult entertainment sites, who argued it was unconstitutional. Pornhub still moved forward with a basic age-verification system, but the Texas Attorney General’s office doesn’t think it’s system was doing enough.
“The age verification methods used by the Defendants on their websites cannot be said to verify anything at all, and wholly fail to comply with the requirements of” the bill, the lawsuit stated.
Texas is now one of 17 states who have passed or proposed laws requiring porn sites to verify the age of viewers. Under the law, websites failing to comply face hefty fines, which explains why Pornhub decides to fully block access from Texas rather than risk penalties. More states are expected to enact similar age verification laws in the coming years, meaning the end of the online porn industry could be near.
