Pornhub has disabled its site in Texas to object to a state law that requires the company to verify the age of users to prevent minors from accessing the site. Texas residents who visit the site ar…

Pornhub has disabled its site in Texas to object to a state law that requires the company to verify the age of users to prevent minors from accessing the site.

Texas residents who visit the site are met with a message from the company that criticizes the state’s elected officials who are requiring them to track the age of users.

The company said the newly passed law impinges on “the rights of adults to access protected speech” and fails to pass strict scrutiny by “employing the least effective and yet also most restrictive means of accomplishing Texas’s stated purpose of allegedly protecting minors.”

    • ExcursionInversion@lemmy.worldEnglish
      105·
      9 months ago

      They want to ban it nationwide

      Pornography, manifested today in the omnipresent propagation of transgender ideology and sexualization of children, for instance, is not a political Gordian knot inextricably binding up disparate claims about free speech, property rights, sexual liberation, and child welfare. It has no claim to First Amendment protection. Its purveyors are child predators and misogynistic exploiters of women. Their product is as addictive as any illicit drug and as psychologically destructive as any crime. Pornography should be outlawed. The people who produce and distribute it should be imprisoned. Educators and public librarians who purvey it should be classed as registered sex offenders. And telecommunications and technology firms that facilitate its spread should be shuttered

      -A Promise to America", Mandate for Leadership: The Conservative Promise, p. 5, Project 2025

    • Billiam@lemmy.world
      68·
      9 months ago

      Remember, one of the defining traits of right-wing political movements is the redefining of words. When a Conservative says “small government” what they really mean is “a government that can enforce our morals and values, but is incapable of enforcing rights, regulations, or equality.”

  • Fapper_McFapper@lemmy.world
    154·
    9 months ago

    I sure hope all porn sites follow Porn Hub’s lead. Just block Texas from viewing porn. Then I hope all broadband and cable TV operators follow suit as well, can’t have transexual cock on VOD or PPV. Let’s see how quickly Texas falls back in line. It won’t happen, but I can dream.

      • jonne@infosec.pub
        421·
        9 months ago

        Yep, I do agree with that part of the statement. The only porn they’ll have access to will be completely unregulated and a haven for revenge porn and CP.

        Pornhub themselves weren’t amazing on that front to begin with, but they made more of an effort than most to try and clean that up due to regulatory pressures.

        • Snot Flickerman@lemmy.blahaj.zoneEnglish
          142·
          9 months ago

          The kind of sites who won’t bother complying with Texas’ age verification law because they already hosted all kinds of illegal shit are just going to explode in popularity further entrenching a depraved and violent subset of sexual abusers.

          Anyway, I’m glad to see this sentiment echoed on Lemmy. Everywhere else it feels like people are thoughtlessly praising Pornhub and thinking this is a “big win.”

            • Snot Flickerman@lemmy.blahaj.zoneEnglish
              101·
              9 months ago

              I think asking for ID online to view porn is practically unenforceable, which is why I’m of the opinion that a site like Pornhub will quickly be replaced by far more disreputable sites who will not follow the rules requiring IDs to view the porn.

              Pornhub cutting off Texas just isn’t as big of a win as people are making it out to be, imho, simply because its unenforceable and the kind of sites that are willing to ignore it probably have far worse on their sites to begin with. So those kind of sites will see their traffic drastically increase and men consuming porn in Texas will be exposed to far more violent and dangerous content. Pornhub is doing the right thing, sure, but it doesn’t mean it’s that simple.

              Do people really think Texas is going to spend time playing whack-a-mole with every single random porn site on the internet? I don’t.

              • NotMyOldRedditName@lemmy.world
                2·
                9 months ago

                Won’t Texas just go to the next step and start forcing the ISPs to ban the sites starting a never ending game of whackamole until they just outright ban all porn at the ISP level with a way to add a site super easily and on demand.

                At that point it’s VPN only in which case you can access it all anyway

                Edit: and of course the blanket isp ban will hit non porn things to, but that’s the cost to save the children!

                • Snot Flickerman@lemmy.blahaj.zoneEnglish
                  1·
                  9 months ago

                  Court time costs money, and in each one of these cases, they’ll have to start legal proceedings against every site, and then, if that doesn’t work and then they’ll have to sue each and every ISP for compliance. Taking it to court is a surefire way for the law to be shot down by the courts. Blocking at that level would undoubtedly run into Freedom of Speech issues.

                  1. There are roughly 4 million adult sites on the internet. That’s a lot of fucking court cases, especially when a bunch of these aren’t even headquartered in the US.

                  2. In Texas alone there are over 150 Internet Service Providers. While that’s an easier number to target, it’s far more likely to run into the 1st Amendment argument that blocking the site is blocking the freedom of speech of the ISP.

                  The reason they went with age verification was because it doesn’t end up in 1st Amendment territory. Outright blocking the sites for non-compliance and taking them to court risks the court throwing out the law and saying its unconstitutional.

                  Texas can’t even keep its power grid on, I have serious doubts they have the ability to achieve either of these things. Asking ISPs to wholesale block sites is about as difficult to enforce as age verification, which is basically unenforceable as it stands.

        • Kairos@lemmy.today
          6·
          9 months ago

          Yes. I don’t explicitly like that you have to be verified to post content but it’s very nice to have the default porn site to be much better protected.

          • robotica@lemmy.world
            2·
            9 months ago

            Verifying your identity before posting potentially illegal content is a great deterrent against doing so, especially when it’s original content.

      • CarbonIceDragon@pawb.social
        25·
        9 months ago

        I do wonder how this kind of thing will mesh with sites that arent for porn but do allow posting of it. Like reddit or for that manner any lemmy instance federated with one of the instances with nsfw subs

        • Spacemanspliff@midwest.socialEnglish
          7·
          9 months ago

          If I remember there was a content percentage threshold that would probably keep things like reddit and federated instances allowed, the strictly porn instances however might also have to ban Texas.

        • glimse@lemmy.world
          30·
          9 months ago

          “I thought it was broken but the power grid is just down because it’s cold :(”

    • unalivejoy@lemm.eeEnglish
      33·
      9 months ago

      I’m in North Carolina and the porn has been blocked since New Year’s. The hentai websites are the only ones I have access to. (E621 is also blocked).

      • Rhaedas@fedia.io
        8·
        9 months ago

        It’s not a NC thing, so I have to ask:

        Are you at work or some common access?

        Do you have a shared access at home, like parent/roommates/apartment/school?

        Some other parental type control in force?

        ISPs don’t care what you look at, they only get involved with copyright stuff because someone is hassling them to do something about it. Someone has filters at the local point to keep you from getting to places. VPN could help get past, depending on how the filters work. Interestingly I’ve gotten out with a VPN before when my ISP had my direct connection in suspension.

        • draughtcyclist@lemmy.world
          20·
          9 months ago

          It’s not blocked at layer 4 or anything. The website simply geolocates you and denies application access for users geolocated to NC. VPN gets around it fine.

          The bigger issue is that plenty of other sites still allow access… So it’s effectively punishing the rule followers.

      • Dizzy Devil Ducky@lemm.eeEnglish
        62·
        9 months ago

        How Dare They Block E621! Now I have to become an armchair warrior and get mad over something that doesn’t affect me in the slightest because I still have access! All while doing nothing about it!

        In all honesty, fuck these types of people for blocking sites that try to a degree to try and stop illegal porn on their platforms.

    • MegaUltraChicken@lemmy.world
      11·
      9 months ago

      TIL there are people still paying for PPV porn on cable after we invented an entire worldwide network of porn you can access for free.

  • PrincessLeiasCat@sh.itjust.works
    1172·
    9 months ago

    I’m a woman in Texas and if this has anything positive to come out of it, I hope a lot of the men here who don’t care about women’s reproductive rights will finally wake up to the Christian Nationalism really taking hold here, realize it may impact them, and help to do something about it.

  • Starkstruck@lemmy.world
    851·
    9 months ago

    At least this’ll probably push more people to hate Republicans. Like, fucking with a man’s porn supply is just political suicide. At least I hope it is.

    • geekworking@lemmy.world
      47·
      9 months ago

      Don’t worry they’ll find a way to blame Biden.

      Anything is possible when logic, facts, and reality don’t matter.

          • Zahille7@lemmy.world
            2·
            9 months ago

            I’m almost afraid to ask, but what other forms of slavery are there that means you aren’t the property of a slave owner?

            • iknowitwheniseeit@lemmynsfw.com
              2·
              9 months ago

              Slaves can also be owned by the state, rather than individuals. Weirdly some empires had slave armies, for example. In other cases slaves have significant rights, including their own property; Roman slaves could save money and buy their own freedom (although many slaves were worked to death in mines, or used for sex, so it was definitely still shit). In some cultures children of slaves were free (technically, although still starting from a terrible position). There was also indentured servitude, where you agreed to be a slave for a limited time period - a lot of people came to the Americas for free, but were slaves for a few years in exchange (before Europeans started buying chattel slaves from Africa, which gave better return on their investment, as long as you didn’t mind being evil).

    • Asafum@feddit.nl
      3·
      9 months ago

      They should have also added a bit about big government intrusion into their personal privacy rights. They have to speak the conservative language to conservatives to really get them riled up.

  • Got_Bent@lemmy.world
    78·
    9 months ago

    Just tried it. Yep, no access. Just a long message lambasting Texas politicians.

    I tried all the other regular sites, no issues.

    They’re gonna need an industry wide cooperation to successfully combat this.

    • AquaTofana@lemmy.world
      48·
      9 months ago

      I tried it, got the block message, and then tried it with a Kansas City VPN just to see if it would work. It did.

      I really liked the message though. Texas legislators are dumb af if they don’t think that this is going to push people to use websites without ID requirements and less stringent rules on content creation/safety.

      I mean, they were dumb af before this, but they’re extra dumb now too.

        • jaybone@lemmy.world
          5·
          9 months ago

          I wonder if they do it by ISP.

          I always wonder how they do these types of blocks. Sure you can get a city from an IP record, mine reports me as several counties away.

      • ipkpjersi@lemmy.ml
        2·
        9 months ago

        The thing is, there’s hundreds, thousands, possibly millions of porn sites out there. There is no way any state is going to be able to block them all. Even if, by some miracle, they did manage to block them all - it won’t matter, people will still just use a VPN anyway.

    • ditty@lemm.ee
      5·
      9 months ago

      Same lol. Pretty interesting read - Phub advocates for age verification on the device level rather than an individual website level.

    • TexasDrunk@lemmy.world
      5·
      9 months ago

      I turned off my VPN and same. I talked to a buddy and found out they’re doing it in NC and Virginia too.

  • Lucidlethargy@sh.itjust.works
    582·
    9 months ago

    Texas loves to use words like “freedom” and “liberty”, and make them synonomus with their values. Then they pass legislation to force women to give birth, and they ban porn.

    Like… “y’all” really are fucking stupid down there (at least the conservatives.)

  • bamboo@lemm.ee
    54·
    9 months ago

    All blocking porn in the states will do is push users to sites hosted in the EU/Russia/Brazil/etc. Probably with even fewer safety checks or regulations.

    • A_Very_Big_Fan@lemmy.worldEnglish
      29·
      9 months ago

      Came here to say this too. All they’re doing is pushing the users of those sites to less reputable sites

      I know how I was as a kid, and I sure as shit wouldn’t have stopped because my state said “no”

    • PM_Your_Nudes_Please@lemmy.world
      241·
      9 months ago

      I can almost guarantee that the EU would have better regulations. Given that the US doesn’t even have anything akin to GDPR. If you’re in the EU and get a “sorry we can’t let you use our site because of GDPR” warning, you should consider it a blessing in disguise. Because it means the US users are getting their data harvested and sold without their knowledge or consent, and the GDPR prevents that.

    • Tinidril@midwest.socialEnglish
      13·
      9 months ago

      I’m sure that a national firewall is next. These right wing freedom humpers are deeply envious of totalitarian regimes.

    • stoly@lemmy.world
      62·
      9 months ago

      You may overestimate how technical the average person is. Think of the sort that would never bother with Lemmy.

      • bamboo@lemm.ee
        8·
        9 months ago

        I think this is one most people would figure out in time. After getting blocked on their go-to website, they’ll google or bing or whatever videos, and eventually find some that aren’t blocked and bookmark them.

    • homura1650@lemm.ee
      34·
      9 months ago

      Interestingly, according to the article, the biggest effect is in 15-19 year olds; which are the people the law is intended to bar from accessing porn. Granted, I have no idea how good the underlying study that article is based off of is.

      • skozzii@lemmy.ca
        21·
        9 months ago

        The ones that most definetely know how to use a vpn…

        It’s gonna be the boomer politicians that are big mad and can’t figure out a work around.

        • aidan@lemmy.world
          2·
          9 months ago

          The ones that most definetely know how to use a vpn…

          There are plenty of 15-19 year olds who are good with computers, but also plenty who aren’t

          • Jakeroxs@sh.itjust.works
            1·
            9 months ago

            The goal post for what “being good at computers” has moved quite a bit, stuff that was distinctly only known to the nerds and geeks is now common knowledge to the younger generations, just from what I’ve seen of my younger relatives compared to my geekyness growing up lol.

              • Jakeroxs@sh.itjust.works
                1·
                9 months ago

                VPNs was a good one, I have definitely heard from my younger siblings/cousins they’re familiar or use them at school.

                I remember being a select few at my school who knew how to use proxies to get to game sites on school PCS, I even made a little free hosted website for linking to proxies/unblocked game sites for my friends. (that eventually got blocked too, funny enough certain link shortners still worked for a bit since they seemingly blocked by Url)

                I’ll try to think of other examples, just something I had noticed talking to younger family members.

                I think it’s moreso just that it’s easier to do then it used to be.

    • Makhno@lemmy.world
      3610·
      9 months ago

      If porn is the only thing stopping someone from raping another person, then their problems are a whole lot deeper than porn

      • homura1650@lemm.ee
        712·
        9 months ago

        So? If porn is the only thing that stopped me from getting raped, then my problem is solved. I’d call that a win.

      • afraid_of_zombies@lemmy.world
        15·
        9 months ago

        While true it still is stopping them. I don’t really care that much of a person is intrinsically a good person or not I care what their action’s are.

        Question: what do you call someone capable of the act of rape that has never raped anyone? Answer: normal.

        • Syn_Attck@lemmy.today
          3·
          9 months ago

          Well said. In a world without stop signs, traffic lights, laws and judges, the people who think they’re the most wholesome may otherwise be the most vicious perpetrators.

          We like to think being a good person is an innate thing. Truth is, hatred, jealousy, lust, anger, murder, rape, violence - they’re all human nature. Every single person reading this comment is capable of murder if the set of circumstances required it. Societal conditioning (including education), the environment you’re raised in, social punishments, the threat of lack of freedom, and learned introspection are the factors preventing people from doing these things.

          If you’re the nicest person someone has met, then you lucked out, but it has very little to do with your ‘true nature.’ One caveat: some people seem to be born with a predisposition towards violence. Not many are born with a predisposition to anti-violence. Anti-violence is as innate in humans as the English language. Nobody’s born with it, but if you’re raised with it then you do it mostly subconsciously. If anti-violence was a common function of human DNA then we’d all have been eaten by lions. Just to illustrate it further, even plants innately use violence (poisons) as an anti-predation mechanism, although they (probably) aren’t conscious.

          I can’t count the number of times in AA and NA I heard stories about people not knowing it wasn’t ‘normal’ to get fucked up and beat their spouse until they were out of their parents house.

      • laughterlaughter@lemmy.world
        71·
        9 months ago

        I agree with you. However, that’s oversimplifying the matter. I don’t think every case in which “porn helped prevent a rape” has porn as the one and only reason.

      • Bremmy@lemmy.ml
        810·
        9 months ago

        Religion can sometimes prevent mass murderers, so you’re absolutely right

          • Bremmy@lemmy.ml
            1·
            9 months ago

            I’m full on anti-religion, but some crazies have said the fear of eternal damnation is the only reason they don’t go out murdering

            • afraid_of_zombies@lemmy.world
              1·
              9 months ago

              I have my doubts about how accurate their assessment is. I said things like that when I was a theist and turns out I am still pretty boring even without the fear of hell. However, on the off chance I am wrong and quite literally the only thing keeping someone from being a murderer is the fear of hell well they should probably still believe in hell.

              This is what the narcissist does to you. They convince you that you are nothing and even less than nothing without them. Religion teaches people that they are worthless and can only be saved from their deserved fate by absolute obedience.

    • fne8w2ah@lemmy.worldEnglish
      9·
      9 months ago

      Showing once again the disconnect between lawmakers and the public they are meant to serve.

    • WandreyEnglish
      2·
      9 months ago

      There isn’t just pornhub in Texas!

  • Flying Squid@lemmy.world
    471·
    9 months ago

    Texans will have to get their porn the old fashioned way now- finding an old magazine in the woods.

    • spyd3r@sh.itjust.works
      13·
      9 months ago

      Prior to the internet that was the best way to get it.

      I can’t imagine what the older generations were doing out there with stacks of Playboys, but I’m sure glad they didn’t care about leaving them out there for us to find.

    • Andonyx@lemmy.world
      101·
      9 months ago

      For real? That’s how we got ours too! (I’m exactly stranger things age.) Who was leaving all the porn in the woods?!?! Why? Why are anthropologists not dropping everything to figure this out?

    • Sightline@lemmy.mlEnglish
      3·
      9 months ago

      Texan prepper here. I’ve downloaded ~2000 videos from PH over the years just in case.