Lovely.

Pornhub: You passed a law requiring age verification? Fine, now no one in Utah can watch porn.

Utah: Your terms are acceptable.


Pornhub blocks Utah in protest of new age-verification law

SALT LAKE CITY — Pornhub, one of the largest adult content websites on the internet, has blocked Utahns from viewing the site in an apparent protest of a new law forcing stricter age-verification measures.

Website visitors from Utah started noticing the block on Monday morning. At first, Pornhub posted "403 | This state is not whitelisted." 403 is a computer code for a forbidden site. Later in the day, the site was changed to a lengthy message to users notifying them of why they were blocked.

"As you may know, your elected officials in Utah are requiring us to verify your age before allowing you access to our website. 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, will put children and your privacy at risk," the site's message read.

Pornhub insisted it had robust trust and safety measures to prevent children from accessing its adult content, and the measures the state of Utah was requiring had no proper enforcement.

"We believe that the best and most effective solution for protecting children and adults alike is to identify users by their device and allow access to age-restricted materials and websites based on that identification. Until a real solution is offered, we have made the difficult decision to completely disable access to our website in Utah."

The site's message urged viewers to contact their elected lawmakers to demand "solutions that make the internet safer while also respecting your privacy."

Pornhub is protesting Senate Bill 287, which unanimously passed the legislature this year. It requires adult content websites to use age-verification systems before someone can view them. The bill allowed for third-party or other systems to do as such. The bill is similar to one passed by Louisiana's state legislature.

"Utah's age-verification law goes into effect on May 3, but there's no clear way to comply with it — Utah's digital ID does not currently allow online verification — so many adult sites are just planning to block all visitors from the state, as they did in Louisiana. Many of our members are concerned about the way SB287 was rushed through, with little attention to the technology or how it would be executed. We're already seeing incidents of identity theft in Louisiana related to the law, and expect the same in Utah," Mike Stabile, a spokesperson for the Free Speech Coalition (the trade group representing the adult entertainment industry) told FOX 13 News.

Stabile said he was unaware if any other adult websites will be blocking Utah.

The sponsor of SB287, Sen. Todd Weiler, R-Woods Cross, told FOX 13 News in a text message he believed that Pornhub could comply with the new law.

"They are complying with LA’s law, which is essentially the same. So I expect they will eventually comply with Utah’s as well," he wrote.

Pornhub and other sites previously protested a law the Utah State Legislature passed in 2020 requiring adult websites to have a warning label with an opt-in message, arguing it was unconstitutional. But ultimately, many of the sites started putting up the warning labels to Utah visitors.

https://www.fox13now.com/news/...age-verification-law

Bad day to be a horny Mormon.

What is porn?

Isn't most of the internet already doing this? And I don't mean porn sites, but things that would be bad fer churlin's eyes, like gun websites. (in response to a CA law maybe?)

Buy stock in VPN companies! Everyone in Utah is going to get a VPN to change their location….LOL.

quote:

Originally posted by Krazeehorse:
Bad day to be a horny Mormon.

Holy shit if I drank coffee I would've spit it out on my keyboard and monitor!

Funny how when you restrict something people naturally want more of it.

^^^ That’s just subscribers. Who the hell actually subscribes??

quote:

The site's message urged viewers to contact their elected lawmakers to demand "solutions that make the internet safer while also respecting your privacy."

Uh, sure. I'm sure lots of Utah folks are going to contact their representatives on the record and state that they want to watch porn.

The first rule of Porn Club is "don't talk about Porn Club"!

quote:

Originally posted by flesheatingvirus:
^^^ That’s just subscribers. Who the hell actually subscribes??

quote:

Originally posted by StorminNormin:
Buy stock in VPN companies! Everyone in Utah is going to get a VPN to change their location….LOL.

Sell stock in hairy palm treatment companies in Utah...

Weeeeell, it was a long cold winter…..

In related news hand lotion sales in Utah plummet.

First they came for the cigarettes and I did not stand up and fight.

Then they came for the sugary drinks and I did not stand up and fight.

Then they came for the plastic bags and I did not stand up and fight.

Then they came for the assault weapons and I did not fight.

Then they came for the porn and no one was there to fight for me.

quote:

Originally posted by cas:
Isn't most of the internet already doing this? And I don't mean porn sites, but things that would be bad fer churlin's eyes, like gun websites. (in response to a CA law maybe?)

The current internet practice is to make you click a button that says "I promise I'm old enough to look at this." Some of them also make you enter "your birthday" to confirm you are old enough, but in no way actually verify that is is YOUR birthday.

The Utah law requires you to submit an electronic copy of your state ID card or submit actual identifying information to an identity verification service when you visit a porn site.

Not quite the same thing.

quote:

Originally posted by apprentice:
Funny how when you restrict something people naturally want more of it.

Right? I've seen it first hand how banning vs educating yeilds the opposite of what was desired.
Rather than an age limit or ban they should make porn addiction part of sex Ed in schools (unfortunately most religious institutions discourage it).
You start educating teens on how porn fucks up your endocrine system and causes sexual dysfunction and you may get some to listen.

In other news, inexplicable spike in VPN subscriptions in Utah!

quote:

Originally posted by Ryanp225:

Right? I've seen it first hand how banning vs educating yeilds the opposite of what was desired.
Rather than an age limit or ban they should make porn addiction part of sex Ed in schools (unfortunately most religious institutions discourage it).
You start educating teens on how porn fucks up your endocrine system and causes sexual dysfunction and you may get some to listen.

You must know that that won't stop pre-adolescent and adolescent boys for a second when it comes to Porn. This is not like cigarettes. Just try to imagine if porn, and I mean absolute hard-core porn, were available at the tips of your fingers any time you wanted when you were that age. These boys are becoming slaves to this shit and it's really screwing up a lot of them. I'm all for this bill, which by the way doesn't ban porn. It simply requires some way to verify the age of the individual. Gambling sites somehow do it, don't they?

Of course, I don't believe any kid under the age of 16 or frankly even 18 has any business having a smartphone so parents could crack down hugely on this simply by coming to that same realization.

quote:

Originally posted by Balzé Halzé:

quote:

Originally posted by Ryanp225:

Right? I've seen it first hand how banning vs educating yeilds the opposite of what was desired.
Rather than an age limit or ban they should make porn addiction part of sex Ed in schools (unfortunately most religious institutions discourage it).
You start educating teens on how porn fucks up your endocrine system and causes sexual dysfunction and you may get some to listen.

You must know that that won't stop pre-adolescent and adolescent boys for a second when it comes to Porn. This is not like cigarettes. Just try to imagine if porn, and I mean absolute hard-core porn, were available at the tips of your fingers any time you wanted when you were that age. These boys are becoming slaves to this shit and it's really screwing up a lot of them. I'm all for this bill, which by the way doesn't ban porn. It simply requires some way to verify the age of the individual. Gambling sites somehow do it, don't they?

Of course, I don't believe any kid under the age of 16 or frankly even 18 has any business having a smartphone so parents could crack down hugely on this simply by coming to that same realization.

Very true. When I was a kid/teenager you had no access to anything. I won’t forget when I found a Playboy magazine in the woods when riding my dirt bike. That was my first view of a naked woman. Now kids have access to serious hardcore porn in an instant. Not good in my opinion.