Pornhub pulls out of Texas: World's largest adult content website restricts access in Lone Star State over Gov. Greg Abbott's age verification law

The world's largest adult content website, Pornhub, has blocked users from accessing it and its sister sites in Texas over a dispute regarding an age verification law that the Lone Star State passed in 2023. 

Last week, an appeals court in Texas upheld the law with the battle likely now to rage on. The appeals court did strike down a law requiring users to red a health and safety warning before logging on. 

The Texas Attorney General's office appealed that decision. Governor Greg Abbott signed the bill into law in October 2023. 

Those who attempted to access Pornhub in Texas on Thursday were greeted with a message explaining the Canadian-based company's position. A 2023 survey found 58 percent of Americans have watched porn at some point. 

'As you may know, your elected officials in Texas are requiring us to verify your age before allowing you access to our website.'

'Not only does this impinge on the rights of adults to access protected speech, it fails strict scrutiny by employing the least effective and yet also most restrictive means of accomplishing Texas's stated purpose of allegedly protecting minors,' the message reads. 

Pornhub is owned by Aylo Holdings and is based in Canada 

Governor Greg Abbott signed the bill requiring age verification into law in October 2023

The message that greets users attempting to access Pornhub in Texas

The message goes on to state that Pornhub believes that age verifications are 'not an effective solution for protecting users online, and in fact, will put minors and your privacy at risk.' 

Texas Republican Attorney General Ken Paxton immediately shot back on X.

'PornHub has now disabled its website in Texas. Sites like PornHub are on the run because Texas has a law that aims to prevent them from showing harmful, obscene material to children. We recently secured a major victory against PornHub and other sites that sought to block this law…,' he wrote.  

The Texas law is one of several similar age verification laws passed in other states, including Arkansas, Mississippi, Utah and Louisiana.

The Texas law carried fines of up to $10,000 per violation that could be raised to up to $250,000 per violation by a minor. 

The Utah law was upheld by a federal judge who last month rejected a lawsuit challenging it.

Arkansas' law, which would have required parental consent for children to create new social media accounts, was struck down by a federal judge Thursday and a lawsuit challenging the Louisiana law is pending.

Opponents have argued that age verification laws for adult websites not only infringe upon free speech, but also threaten digital privacy because it's impossible to ensure that websites don't retain user identification data. 

In 2023, Pornhub's owners paid out $1.8 million after admitting to profiting from sex trafficking and agreed to make payments to women whose videos were posted without their consent in a New York Court

'States are attempting to do an end run around the First Amendment by outsourcing censorship to citizens,' said Alison Boden, the executive director of Free Speech Coalition said in 2023. 

'It's a new mechanism, but a deeply flawed one. Government attempts to chill speech, no matter the method, are prohibited by the Constitution and decades of legal precedent.' 

Also in 2023, Pornhub's owners paid out $1.8 million after admitting to profiting from sex trafficking and agreed to make payments to women whose videos were posted without their consent in a New York Court.  

Aylo Holdings, the website’s parent company, reached a deferred prosecution agreement to resolve a charge of engaging in unlawful monetary transactions involving sex trafficking proceeds. 

Prosecutors said Aylo has agreed to pay victims compensation, but details such as who is eligible and how they can apply will be forthcoming.

The charge stemmed from Aylo’s role in hosting videos and accepting payments from GirlsDoPorn.