In early May, adult residents of Utah were officially blocked from using one website that has become a household name in adult entertainment. PornHub no longer sent users from the state to its home page -- instead, they were directed to a video explaining exactly why they weren't allowed access.
Several states have enacted age verification laws that require the upload of a government ID to access pornography. In protest of these laws, PornHub, along with other adult sites owned by parent company MindGeek, has blocked service to those states.
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Virginia, Arkansas, and Mississippi have joined Utah in the PornHub penalty box -- and the video users are allowed to watch explains exactly why with the help of popular adult performer Cherie DeVille.
On behalf of PornHub, DeVille says that, "While safety and compliance are at the forefront of our mission, giving your ID card every time you want to visit an adult platform is not the most effective solution for protecting our users, and in fact," she insists in the video, "will put children and your privacy at risk."
"In addition," she says, "mandating age verification without proper enforcement gives platforms the opportunity to choose whether or not to comply. As we've seen in other states, this just drives traffic to sites with far fewer safety measures in place.... Any legislation must be enforced against all platforms offering adult content."
But adult performers, also keen on protecting their content from children's eyes, have a proposition. "The best and most effective solution for protecting children and adults alike is to identify users by their device," the video says, "and allow access to age-restricted materials and websites based on that identification."
It's unclear how long these states will be banned from the adult mega-site. "Until a real solution is offered," DeVille says at the video's conclusion, "we've made the difficult decision to completely disable access ... in your region. Please contact your representatives and demand ... solutions that make the internet safer while also respecting your privacy."
When asked for comment, a representative from MindGeek said that the company "is encouraging its users to amplify the messaging [in the video] and demand that any proposed age verification laws require user verification at the device level to best protect both children and user privacy."
