Pornhub has blocked residents of Utah from accessing its website in protest against a new law that requires adult sites to verify the ages of users. Meanwhile, an advocacy group has filed a lawsuit arguing that Utah’s porn law is discriminatory and infringes on the privacy of adults who want to watch porn online.
Utah’s porn law, which came into effect on Wednesday, requires all commercial entities providing adult content to verify users’ ages to ensure minors don’t access such material.
Utah Senate Bill 27 recommends age checks via state-approved “digitized information cards” or any other “reasonable” verification method. Guardians and parents of minors can sue adult sites that fail to adhere to the new requirements.
Republican Senator Todd Weiler, who proposed the bill, told VPNOverview in an email that the goal is to protect children.
“Utah declared pornography to be a public health crisis in 2016,” he said. “Since that time, we have been looking for ways to protect children from being exposed to hard core porn. We have passed several bills over the past 7 years.”
According to Weiler, starting in March 2024, Utah will require social media users to verify their ages.
Historically ultra-conservative, Utah is the second US state to require porn sites to verify users’ ages. In January, a similar law came into effect in Louisiana. Several other states are currently considering copycat laws.
A Threat to Privacy
While the new requirement is designed to protect children, critics say it puts the privacy of Utah residents at risk.
Since Pornhub blocked Utah residents from accessing its content on Tuesday, visitors from the state are directed to a video of adult performer Cherie DeVille where she delivers a statement from Pornhub highlighting the privacy risk of the new law and advocating for “device-based verification.”
“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,” DeVille explains. “In addition, 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.”
DeVille wraps up the video by urging Utah residents to contact local lawmakers and “demand device-based verification solutions that make the internet safer while also respecting your privacy.”
Pornhub is one of the largest adult sites in the US and one of the most visited websites in the world. Sen. Weiler said while some Pornhub users in the state are unhappy about the new law, “pro-family advocates are ecstatic.”
Meanwhile, on Wednesday, the Free Speech Coalition, companies operating adult sites, and other dissenting parties filed a joint lawsuit challenging the new law. The complaint “asks for declaratory and injunctive relief against the law on account of violations of the 1st and 14th Amendments.”
“The Utah law restricts adults’ access to legal speech and violates decades of Supreme Court precedent,” Alison Boden, executive director of the Free Speech Coalition, said.
Utah currently doesn’t have a system for verifying digital IDs. In April, Governor Spencer Cox signed a bill that tasked the state’s Division of Technology Services with running a pilot program and providing recommendations for digital IDs. The department has reportedly been testing a blockchain system for verifiable IDs and is expected to issue a report in October.
Accessing Adult Content With a VPN
Our analysis of Google Search data shows a spike in searches for virtual private networks (VPNs) in Utah on Tuesday, presumably as residents seek ways to circumvent the new law and unblock Pornhub. Many people use VPNs to spoof their location and access geo-restricted content on streaming sites and other platforms.
We strongly recommend using a VPN when watching porn online. Porn sites collect vast amounts of user data and often share this data with third parties. Read our article about how to watch porn anonymously to learn more about ways to protect your privacy while accessing adult content.
