PornHub blocks Utah due to new law holding sites accountable for minors accessing content.

PornHub Blocks Utah Residents from Accessing Content Ahead of New Law

As of Wednesday, Utah residents are blocked from accessing PornHub content due to a new state law that allows websites to be sued if they enable minors to view their videos. The “Online Pornography Viewing Age Requirements” bill was passed unanimously by both chambers and signed into law in March by Gov. Spencer Cox. The law requires sites to perform reasonable age verification methods to verify the age of an individual attempting to access the material. However, the bill also discusses a “digitized identification card” connected to a “state-approved application” — which the adult industry says doesn’t exist.

Compliance Issues

Alison Boden of the Free Speech Coalition, which represents the adult industry, wrote to the bill’s state Senate sponsor, Todd Weiler, that, “despite consulting over a dozen lawyers, I must admit I’m stumped. The law is so vague — and the requirements for compliance so contradictory — I cannot figure out how FSC members can follow this law.”

“Without unambiguous guidance, we fear that even sites that make a good-faith effort to comply risk being sued, even if they are using more aggressive methods of age verification,” she wrote.

Comparison with Louisiana

Louisiana passed a similar law last year and it was signed in June 2022 by the state’s Democrat governor. “They are complying with Louisiana’s law, which is essentially the same. So I expect they will eventually comply with Utah’s as well,” Weiler told local TV station FOX 13.

But that state’s government provides a mobile app that holds a digital copy of a resident’s drivers license, and which can connect with a third-party service to demonstrate a user’s age, ARS Technica previously reported.

PornHub’s Response

PornHub provides a mechanism for Louisiana users to go through that process, telling them that the site “does not collect any data during this process. This process is carried out by reputable service providers who specialize in verifying the age of online users. Your proof of age does not allow anyone to trace your online activity,” according to ARS Technica. In Utah, by contrast, the site simply blocks users from accessing videos.

Workarounds

Users can circumvent state bans on pornography relatively easily by using a VPN that routes their web traffic through another location.

Political Context

Utah’s legislature is about 80% Republican. It is dominated by members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints and is particularly conservative on social issues such as pornography that are of importance to the church, while by other measures, the state’s Republican lawmakers are some of the most moderate in the country, a Daily Wire analysis of state legislative voting records found.

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