Pornhub disables website in Texas after AG sues for not verifying users’ ages

MicroWave@lemmy.world to News@lemmy.world – 706 points – Pornhub disables website in Texas after AG sues for not verifying users’ ages
thehill.com

Pornhub has disabled its site in Texas to object to a state law that requires the company to verify the age of users to prevent minors from accessing the site.

Texas residents who visit the site are met with a message from the company that criticizes the state’s elected officials who are requiring them to track the age of users.

The company said the newly passed law impinges on “the rights of adults to access protected speech” and fails to pass strict scrutiny by “employing the least effective and yet also most restrictive means of accomplishing Texas’s stated purpose of allegedly protecting minors.”

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What kind of “small government” legislates morality?

They want to ban it nationwide

Pornography, manifested today in the omnipresent propagation of transgender ideology and sexualization of children, for instance, is not a political Gordian knot inextricably binding up disparate claims about free speech, property rights, sexual liberation, and child welfare. It has no claim to First Amendment protection. Its purveyors are child predators and misogynistic exploiters of women. Their product is as addictive as any illicit drug and as psychologically destructive as any crime. Pornography should be outlawed. The people who produce and distribute it should be imprisoned. Educators and public librarians who purvey it should be classed as registered sex offenders. And telecommunications and technology firms that facilitate its spread should be shuttered

-A Promise to America", Mandate for Leadership: The Conservative Promise, p. 5, Project 2025

as psychologically destructive as any crime.

...what? Just because something is a crime doesn't make it "psychologically destructive."

Removing tags on mattresses has left me a shell of a man.

Ohh we've been looking for you, buddy 🤨

May both sides of your pillows always be hot and your socks slightly damp.

Remember, one of the defining traits of right-wing political movements is the redefining of words. When a Conservative says "small government" what they really mean is "a government that can enforce our morals and values, but is incapable of enforcing rights, regulations, or equality."

A theocracy (an autocratic one if they get their way)

I sure hope all porn sites follow Porn Hub’s lead. Just block Texas from viewing porn. Then I hope all broadband and cable TV operators follow suit as well, can’t have transexual cock on VOD or PPV. Let’s see how quickly Texas falls back in line. It won’t happen, but I can dream.

Oh porn will be accessible it'll just be worse.

Yep, I do agree with that part of the statement. The only porn they'll have access to will be completely unregulated and a haven for revenge porn and CP.

Pornhub themselves weren't amazing on that front to begin with, but they made more of an effort than most to try and clean that up due to regulatory pressures.

The kind of sites who won't bother complying with Texas' age verification law because they already hosted all kinds of illegal shit are just going to explode in popularity further entrenching a depraved and violent subset of sexual abusers.

Anyway, I'm glad to see this sentiment echoed on Lemmy. Everywhere else it feels like people are thoughtlessly praising Pornhub and thinking this is a "big win."

So you think that providing your ID to access porn is a good idea?

I think asking for ID online to view porn is practically unenforceable, which is why I'm of the opinion that a site like Pornhub will quickly be replaced by far more disreputable sites who will not follow the rules requiring IDs to view the porn.

Pornhub cutting off Texas just isn't as big of a win as people are making it out to be, imho, simply because its unenforceable and the kind of sites that are willing to ignore it probably have far worse on their sites to begin with. So those kind of sites will see their traffic drastically increase and men consuming porn in Texas will be exposed to far more violent and dangerous content. Pornhub is doing the right thing, sure, but it doesn't mean it's that simple.

Do people really think Texas is going to spend time playing whack-a-mole with every single random porn site on the internet? I don't.

Won't Texas just go to the next step and start forcing the ISPs to ban the sites starting a never ending game of whackamole until they just outright ban all porn at the ISP level with a way to add a site super easily and on demand.

At that point it's VPN only in which case you can access it all anyway

Edit: and of course the blanket isp ban will hit non porn things to, but that's the cost to save the children!

Court time costs money, and in each one of these cases, they'll have to start legal proceedings against every site, and then, if that doesn't work and then they'll have to sue each and every ISP for compliance. Taking it to court is a surefire way for the law to be shot down by the courts. Blocking at that level would undoubtedly run into Freedom of Speech issues.

  1. There are roughly 4 million adult sites on the internet. That's a lot of fucking court cases, especially when a bunch of these aren't even headquartered in the US.

  2. In Texas alone there are over 150 Internet Service Providers. While that's an easier number to target, it's far more likely to run into the 1st Amendment argument that blocking the site is blocking the freedom of speech of the ISP.

The reason they went with age verification was because it doesn't end up in 1st Amendment territory. Outright blocking the sites for non-compliance and taking them to court risks the court throwing out the law and saying its unconstitutional.

Texas can't even keep its power grid on, I have serious doubts they have the ability to achieve either of these things. Asking ISPs to wholesale block sites is about as difficult to enforce as age verification, which is basically unenforceable as it stands.

Yes. I don't explicitly like that you have to be verified to post content but it's very nice to have the default porn site to be much better protected.

Verifying your identity before posting potentially illegal content is a great deterrent against doing so, especially when it's original content.

I do wonder how this kind of thing will mesh with sites that arent for porn but do allow posting of it. Like reddit or for that manner any lemmy instance federated with one of the instances with nsfw subs

If I remember there was a content percentage threshold that would probably keep things like reddit and federated instances allowed, the strictly porn instances however might also have to ban Texas.

"Why are you stuck in a dishwasher, Step Bro?"

"I thought it was broken but the power grid is just down because it's cold :("

Everything's bigger in Texas, even the botnets.

I'm in North Carolina and the porn has been blocked since New Year's. The hentai websites are the only ones I have access to. (E621 is also blocked).

It's not a NC thing, so I have to ask:

Are you at work or some common access?

Do you have a shared access at home, like parent/roommates/apartment/school?

Some other parental type control in force?

ISPs don't care what you look at, they only get involved with copyright stuff because someone is hassling them to do something about it. Someone has filters at the local point to keep you from getting to places. VPN could help get past, depending on how the filters work. Interestingly I've gotten out with a VPN before when my ISP had my direct connection in suspension.

It's not blocked at layer 4 or anything. The website simply geolocates you and denies application access for users geolocated to NC. VPN gets around it fine.

The bigger issue is that plenty of other sites still allow access... So it's effectively punishing the rule followers.

How Dare They Block E621! Now I have to become an armchair warrior and get mad over something that doesn't affect me in the slightest because I still have access! All while doing nothing about it!

In all honesty, fuck these types of people for blocking sites that try to a degree to try and stop illegal porn on their platforms.

Specifically, e621 has geoip blocking in place. Not ISPs or anyone else

TIL there are people still paying for PPV porn on cable after we invented an entire worldwide network of porn you can access for free.

I’m a woman in Texas and if this has anything positive to come out of it, I hope a lot of the men here who don’t care about women’s reproductive rights will finally wake up to the Christian Nationalism really taking hold here, realize it may impact them, and help to do something about it.

I'm with you, but I can't imagine any other outcome than an increasingly large group of sexually-frustrated men taking this out on women / men / animals around them. Particularly as other porn sites follow suit.

What's worse, I imagine this is either by design or a very welcome byproduct. In other words, one step closer to y'all qaeda.

The end goal is more babies. Unwanted, uneducated and poor babies. They'll get there by any means possible.

Porn reduces the incident of rape. Combine that with the inability to access abortion. This is going to get worse. If vulnerable people have the ability to leave, they should.

Sooooo all according to plan then right?

Yes, more naive teens with low social economic status they can coerce into fighting their wars

Unfortunately, vulnerable people tend not to have the ability to leave.

This all sucks, but to be realistic it's probably not going to change anything for anybody. Pornhub is not the only porn site, there are more options than any human being could ever make use of out there, and plenty of sites will not recognize the laws of TX.

What realistically will happen is the porn consumers will go "oh no Pornhub is down, I'll have to go to another site" and within 5 minutes they'll be masturbating with porn from an unblocked site. For all we know, they might even visit lemmynsfw communities, which all do not give a fuck about these laws.

You underestimate the lengths people will go, in order to watch that perfect/favorite video that is now blocked. It's why the porn industry makes so much money in the first place

My guess is rape rate will increase instead

https://slate.com/culture/2006/10/proof-that-internet-porn-prevents-rape.html

At least this'll probably push more people to hate Republicans. Like, fucking with a man's porn supply is just political suicide. At least I hope it is.

Don't worry they'll find a way to blame Biden.

Anything is possible when logic, facts, and reality don't matter.

Maybe.... I would have thought treating women like chattel would do it... But apparently not.

cattle ? or is chattel a thing ? not american speaker

They should have also added a bit about big government intrusion into their personal privacy rights. They have to speak the conservative language to conservatives to really get them riled up.

Just tried it. Yep, no access. Just a long message lambasting Texas politicians.

I tried all the other regular sites, no issues.

They're gonna need an industry wide cooperation to successfully combat this.

I tried it, got the block message, and then tried it with a Kansas City VPN just to see if it would work. It did.

I really liked the message though. Texas legislators are dumb af if they don't think that this is going to push people to use websites without ID requirements and less stringent rules on content creation/safety.

I mean, they were dumb af before this, but they're extra dumb now too.

Ironically, I just tried accessing PH with a VPN based in Dallas (I’m not in Texas) and got the normal site.

I wonder if they do it by ISP.

I always wonder how they do these types of blocks. Sure you can get a city from an IP record, mine reports me as several counties away.

The thing is, there's hundreds, thousands, possibly millions of porn sites out there. There is no way any state is going to be able to block them all. Even if, by some miracle, they did manage to block them all - it won't matter, people will still just use a VPN anyway.

I turned off my VPN and same. I talked to a buddy and found out they're doing it in NC and Virginia too.

Same lol. Pretty interesting read - Phub advocates for age verification on the device level rather than an individual website level.

1 more...

What's Teddy going to do now to pass the time??

He’s gonna fly to Cancun to watch from there.

If we were playing "Who wants to be a millionaire?" Id choose this answer.

Texas loves to use words like "freedom" and "liberty", and make them synonomus with their values. Then they pass legislation to force women to give birth, and they ban porn.

Like... "y'all" really are fucking stupid down there (at least the conservatives.)

There was an article rating actual freedom in different states and they came in dead last.

All blocking porn in the states will do is push users to sites hosted in the EU/Russia/Brazil/etc. Probably with even fewer safety checks or regulations.

Came here to say this too. All they're doing is pushing the users of those sites to less reputable sites

I know how I was as a kid, and I sure as shit wouldn't have stopped because my state said "no"

I can almost guarantee that the EU would have better regulations. Given that the US doesn’t even have anything akin to GDPR. If you’re in the EU and get a “sorry we can’t let you use our site because of GDPR” warning, you should consider it a blessing in disguise. Because it means the US users are getting their data harvested and sold without their knowledge or consent, and the GDPR prevents that.

I'm sure that a national firewall is next. These right wing freedom humpers are deeply envious of totalitarian regimes.

Nah, the Sears catalog is about to come back in a BIG way in Texas.

You may overestimate how technical the average person is. Think of the sort that would never bother with Lemmy.

They'll go farther for porn.

Shiiit, that's how I learned to disable a Mac's password from boot as a kid

I think this is one most people would figure out in time. After getting blocked on their go-to website, they’ll google or bing or whatever videos, and eventually find some that aren’t blocked and bookmark them.

My guess is rape rate will increase instead

https://slate.com/culture/2006/10/proof-that-internet-porn-prevents-rape.html

Interestingly, according to the article, the biggest effect is in 15-19 year olds; which are the people the law is intended to bar from accessing porn. Granted, I have no idea how good the underlying study that article is based off of is.

The ones that most definetely know how to use a vpn...

It's gonna be the boomer politicians that are big mad and can't figure out a work around.

The ones that most definetely know how to use a vpn...

There are plenty of 15-19 year olds who are good with computers, but also plenty who aren't

The goal post for what "being good at computers" has moved quite a bit, stuff that was distinctly only known to the nerds and geeks is now common knowledge to the younger generations, just from what I've seen of my younger relatives compared to my geekyness growing up lol.

What types of stuff do you mean?

VPNs was a good one, I have definitely heard from my younger siblings/cousins they're familiar or use them at school.

I remember being a select few at my school who knew how to use proxies to get to game sites on school PCS, I even made a little free hosted website for linking to proxies/unblocked game sites for my friends. (that eventually got blocked too, funny enough certain link shortners still worked for a bit since they seemingly blocked by Url)

I'll try to think of other examples, just something I had noticed talking to younger family members.

I think it's moreso just that it's easier to do then it used to be.

If porn is the only thing stopping someone from raping another person, then their problems are a whole lot deeper than porn

So? If porn is the only thing that stopped me from getting raped, then my problem is solved. I'd call that a win.

While true it still is stopping them. I don't really care that much of a person is intrinsically a good person or not I care what their action's are.

Question: what do you call someone capable of the act of rape that has never raped anyone? Answer: normal.

Well said. In a world without stop signs, traffic lights, laws and judges, the people who think they're the most wholesome may otherwise be the most vicious perpetrators.

We like to think being a good person is an innate thing. Truth is, hatred, jealousy, lust, anger, murder, rape, violence - they're all human nature. Every single person reading this comment is capable of murder if the set of circumstances required it. Societal conditioning (including education), the environment you're raised in, social punishments, the threat of lack of freedom, and learned introspection are the factors preventing people from doing these things.

If you're the nicest person someone has met, then you lucked out, but it has very little to do with your 'true nature.' One caveat: some people seem to be born with a predisposition towards violence. Not many are born with a predisposition to anti-violence. Anti-violence is as innate in humans as the English language. Nobody's born with it, but if you're raised with it then you do it mostly subconsciously. If anti-violence was a common function of human DNA then we'd all have been eaten by lions. Just to illustrate it further, even plants innately use violence (poisons) as an anti-predation mechanism, although they (probably) aren't conscious.

I can't count the number of times in AA and NA I heard stories about people not knowing it wasn't 'normal' to get fucked up and beat their spouse until they were out of their parents house.

I agree with you. However, that's oversimplifying the matter. I don't think every case in which "porn helped prevent a rape" has porn as the one and only reason.

Religion can sometimes prevent mass murderers, so you're absolutely right

Doubt.

I'm full on anti-religion, but some crazies have said the fear of eternal damnation is the only reason they don't go out murdering

I have my doubts about how accurate their assessment is. I said things like that when I was a theist and turns out I am still pretty boring even without the fear of hell. However, on the off chance I am wrong and quite literally the only thing keeping someone from being a murderer is the fear of hell well they should probably still believe in hell.

This is what the narcissist does to you. They convince you that you are nothing and even less than nothing without them. Religion teaches people that they are worthless and can only be saved from their deserved fate by absolute obedience.

Thank you. This had to be said. Our culture is gravely ill...

Our... culture?

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Virgin_cleansing_myth

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:War_crimes_committed_by_country

I meant in the way that members of a society interact with each other and how negative and antisocial qualities are reaching mainstream promotion because it's profitable, but amusing way to pare down 100% of human history into two of the bleakest articles on Wikipedia I guess lol.

Yes people can be awful. Chances are higher than zero that terrible traditions have been a thing in history. Nobody is surprised.

Showing once again the disconnect between lawmakers and the public they are meant to serve.

There isn't just pornhub in Texas!

Aylo owns the following brands: Brazzers Pornhub RedTube YouPorn Xtube Digital Playground Men.com Mofos Nutaku Reality Kings Sean Cody Twistys WhyNotBi.com

Texans will have to get their porn the old fashioned way now- finding an old magazine in the woods.

Prior to the internet that was the best way to get it.

I can't imagine what the older generations were doing out there with stacks of Playboys, but I'm sure glad they didn't care about leaving them out there for us to find.

For real? That's how we got ours too! (I'm exactly stranger things age.) Who was leaving all the porn in the woods?!?! Why? Why are anthropologists not dropping everything to figure this out?

Same when I was a younger teen. Then when I got to be an older teen with access to that I used to leave my stacks in the woods when I was done. Circle of life.

Sniff...maybe I should try to reconcile with my older brother... 😥

Ew don’t sniff them, you don’t know where they’ve been.

Surely you mean don't sniff them, you know exactly where they've been.

Texan prepper here. I've downloaded ~2000 videos from PH over the years just in case.

Hey Texas dudes! Jesus make u mad? Christ took your Christina? No problem!

From the makers of the famous amous Chinese finger trap, here come the Cocklopper2000!

Just place the mildly used or completely unused cock into the cock hole and press the button 🔘!

No more useless cock hanging out like extra skin to toast in the hot Texan sun! The aerodynamics are fantastic!

The Cocklopper2000 comes in with different levels of blade sharpness and motor speeds! From the gentle lop and clop of the brushed 1/2hp DC motor and stainless 304 blades to the neodymium 0 cog out runner brushless motor of the XL model with upgraded boron carbide blades. While the lower cost model is gentle enough to only need mild sedation, the XL model does it so quick and painless you'd swear it's still attached!

All models come with 1 year paid google drive with 3 email addresses! And free disposal cooler box with free postage paid for automatic shipping to the cock store! Your only only source of cocks! Your donation goes directly to benefit trans woman and transgender female to male persons!

FTMs are trans men.

Also what did I just read???

I mean if Texans have no porn, what use is their cock for? It just gets in the way. I assume that they will add a travel ban so men can't fly to other states to watch porn? Maybe make it illegal to help a brother out and drive them to Alabama or something to watch porn?

thank you

The the reviews... review is in! No other cock remover has inspired such words before! The Cockloper2000! The best cock remover in town! YeeeeeHaaaaa!

In other news, VPN sales in Texas skyrocket.

Imaging knowing how to VPN, but not knowing how to vote to keep your rights.

I'm sure there are a lot of people who know how to use a VPN, but their votes against this nonsense get drowned out because it is a red state.

All states are basically red states with islands of blue cities.

Maybe compared to previous usage, but I doubt that most of the population will use a VPN for that.

If only there was some other place to get porn.

Yeah but this is Texas. One of the largest consumers of porn by state. Pornhub is the 6th most visited site in the US, just one spot behind Amazon. I'm sure at least some Texas politicians have decades old accounts accounts with all their favorites videos and probably paid access to creators, etc. Sure they won't be giving up their account username and telling everyone why they're doing it, but this gives them an excuse to call out the bullshit overreach and taking of frozen peaches. They can lie and say their constituents are the ones calling and demanding action. Actually a pretty smart move by Pornhub.

Lotta lone wanks in the lone star tonight boyyy

As a Texan, I’ve been using a VPN for about a decade now, so this doesn’t affect me in the slightest.

EDIT: Please don’t take this to mean that I don’t believe this is, or should be, the norm. Our state government has overstepped its bounds many times over, and the quality of life in this state has done nothing but go downhill since the Repuglicunts came into power almost 30 years ago. I’ve done nothing but vote for anyone but the incumbent right-wing fascists since I was old enough to vote.