Pornhub blocks access in Texas in dispute over age verification law
TEXAS — One of the country's largest adult entertainment websites has shut down services in Texas.
Pornhub issued the content ban following a lawsuit from Attorney General Ken Paxton.
He accused Pornhub's parent company, Aylo Global Entertainment, of violating HB 1181, a Texas law that requires reasonable age verification measures to protect minors from being exposed to obscene materials in a lawsuit in late February.
The law requires online pornography distributors to first use age verification methods to ensure that all users are 18 or older.
"Texas has a right to protect its children from the detrimental effects of pornographic content," Paxton said. "I look forward to holding any company accountable that violates our age verification laws intended to prevent minors from being exposed to harmful, obscene material on the internet."
Pornhub called the approach "the least effective and most restrictive means" of protecting minors online, adding that it could even put adults private personal information in danger, adding that without Texas providing a clear means of enforcement for the law, they have instead decided to stop services statewide and urge lawmakers to come up with a better solution.
Pornhub's parent company could be subject to millions of dollars in civil penalties if it failed to abide by the law.
According to HB 1181, violations are subject to fines of up to $10,000 per day, an additional $10,000 per day if the corporation illegally retains identifying information, and $250,000 if a child is exposed to pornographic content due to not properly verifying a user's age.
