Pornhub blocked in Texas over age-verification law. Here's what we know
After a prolonged legal battle between the Texas attorney general's office and Pornhub, Texans are now unable to access the website on any device.
This comes as a federal appeals court upheld a Texas law mandating that pornography platforms implement age-verification measures to ensure only adults aged 18 or older can access their websites, the Houston Chronicle initially reported. The decision followed a federal judge's decision in August that ruled in favor of Pornhub, alleging that the Texas law violated free speech under the U.S. Constitution's First Amendment.
Now, when users attempt to visit the adult entertainment website, they instead encounter a detailed message explaining why the website is no longer accessible.
#New: Pornhub, one of the largest adult entertainment websites, has completely shut down services in Texas, after the OAG and lawmakers sought to do more to require those websites to verify user age. #txlege
If you pull up Pornhub (don’t ask), this letter comes up ⬇️ pic.twitter.com/RjavLjUcwU— Michael Adkison (@madkisonews) March 14, 2024
In addition to Texas, Pornhub has reluctantly blocked site access for people in other states with age-verification laws, including Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Montana, North Carolina, Utah and Virginia.
What other sites does parent company Aylo own?
Owned by the adult entertainment conglomerate Aylo, Pornhub stands as the second-most visited website in its category, trailing only behind XVideos. Globally, it holds the notable rank of No. 14 among all websites.
However, it is only one of the impacted websites that are now no longer accessible in the state of Texas.
There are eight video-sharing websites in the Pornhub Network: GayTube, Peeperz, PornIQ, Pornhub, RedTube, Thumbzilla, Tube8, and YouPorn. The network also operates Porn MD, a video search engine that aggregates content from across the network.
All adult entertainment brands operated by Aylo include:
Brazzers
Digital Playground
Men.com
Mofos
Nutaku
Pornhub
Reality Kings
RedTube
Sean Cody
Twistys
WhyNotBi.com
Xtube
YouPorn
This article originally appeared on Lubbock Avalanche-Journal: Pornhub blocked in Texas, will now require age-verification to access