Kids get into all sorts of things on the internet, but no parent wants young children perusing adult websites, so now, half of the US and several other countries have implemented age-verification laws that require websites to confirm that their visitors are not minors.
Sounds simple enough, but many of us don't really want to send a video selfie or a photograph of our driver's license to all the platforms we visit, whether that's Discord or Pornhub. To that end, Pornhub's parent company, Aylo, has blocked access to its sites (including YouPorn and Redtube) in regions with age-verification laws.
The most recent state to lose access to Aylo sites is Iowa, where Gov. Kim Reynolds (R) last month signed an age-verification bill that went into effect on July 1. Previously, West Virginia Gov. Patrick Morrisey (R) approved a similar bill that took effect on June 12.
In March, Aylo also blocked access to its sites in Australia in protest of the Online Safety Act, about a month after it did the same in the UK. They joined two dozen US states and France, where Aylo sites are inaccessible without a VPN.
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Though Australia's law was passed in 2021, age-verification requirements for "designated internet services," a broad category that includes websites, went into effect on March 9.
"Age checks relating to certain products have long been used to allow the community to protect children from things which might endanger their immediate safety or may harm their long-term health and development," the Australian government argues.
Age checks in the country can be handled in one of the following ways:
Matching of photo identification
Facial age estimation
Credit card checks
Digital identity wallets or systems
Confirmation of a user’s age by their parent
Using technology to estimate age based on relevant data inputs.
Aylo, however, backs device-based age verification, which would put the onus on companies like Apple, Google, and Microsoft to check people's ages versus specific porn sites.
"Australia is following a similar approach to the UK, which all our evidence shows does not effectively protect minors, and instead creates harms relating to data privacy and exposure to illegal content on non-compliant platforms," an Aylo spokesperson says. "We continue to believe that device-based solutions remain the most realistic and effective way to protect minors online, and every organization in a user’s online journey plays a role."
Aylo points out that Apple requires app stores to verify a user's age when creating an account to comply with a Texas law. "We suggest Apple enable the screen time feature to limit adult websites by default, and make it such that the very same verification be required to disable it," it says. "This can ensure that only age-verified Apple devices can access adult websites."
In Australia, VPN use reportedly surged in the days leading up to the ban, The Guardian reports. Proton VPN, for example, moved from 174th to 19th place on the list of free iPhone apps in Australia while NordVPN went from 189th to 13th, according to Sensor Tower data.
The Australian law requires service providers to "take reasonable steps to prevent workarounds," which could include integrating "VPN detection services," but that's often easier said than done. (More on VPNs below.)
Last year, Aylo said it would comply with the UK's Online Safety Act. However, Aylo later determined that the law had "not achieved its intended goal of protecting minors, [and] made the internet more dangerous for minors and adults and jeopardized the privacy and personal data of UK citizens."
As of Feb. 2, new users in the UK cannot access Aylo’s content-sharing platforms, including Pornhub, YouPorn, and Redtube, though "UK users who have verified their age will retain access through their existing accounts."
In April, meanwhile, EU regulators announced that an age-verification app is "ready for deployment in EU countries, [and] will allow users to prove their age without sharing unnecessary personal data and to browse the internet in full privacy, while ensuring that children cannot access inappropriate content." Security consultants, however, have concerns.
Which US States Are Blocked From Viewing Pornhub?
In the US, Aylo has blocked Pornhub and its other sites in the following states in protest of its age-verification laws:
Alabama
Arizona
Arkansas
Florida
Georgia
Idaho
Iowa
Indiana
Kansas
Kentucky
Mississippi
Missouri
Montana
Nebraska
North Carolina
North Dakota
Oklahoma
South Carolina
South Dakota
Tennessee
Texas
Utah
Virginia
West Virginia
Wyoming
Ohio also has an age-verification law, but Pornhub is not blocked there because the law doesn't apply to providers of interactive computer services, which Aylo says covers its sites. Lawmakers there are now working to close that loophole with a bill that passed the House in March, but hasn't seen much action since then.
In Missouri, the age-verification requirement is a regulation imposed by the attorney general, so lawmakers are now trying to make it law. HB 1839 has been sent to the governor.
In early April, Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers (D) vetoed the state's age-verification bill, arguing that it's an "intrusion into the personal privacy of Wisconsin residents." Residents would be required to hand over personal information to adult sites when verifying their age, and "nothing in the bill prohibits the transmission of such information to a third party, such as a data broker or the government," Evers says. "This is a violation of personal privacy."
Similar bills in Hawaii and Washington state failed to make it out of committee, while Minnesota House lawmakers rejected HR 1434 in late March.
In Michigan, bill sponsors pulled their companion House and Senate bills over concerns about data collection. Lawmakers there, however, are pursuing a social media addiction bill that trade group NetChoice says would lead to "invasive age verification."
According to the Free Speech Coalition, another seven states have pending age-verification bills—Illinois, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, and Rhode Island—as well as Washington, DC.
How Did This Start in the US?
The age-verification battle in the US dates back to 2023, when Louisiana passed an age-verification bill. At the time, Pornhub complied with the law and saw its traffic drop by approximately 80% in the state.
"But we know that people didn’t stop consuming porn overnight because of this new law," Pornhub says. "They just very easily moved to pirate, illegal, or other non-compliant sites that don’t ask visitors to verify their age."
Pornhub argues that it has "robust Trust and Safety measures...to protect both the users viewing content on Pornhub from engaging with potentially dangerous content and provide a safe platform for creators to monetize their content and engage with fans.
"Therefore, these laws have not only failed at protecting minors, but have introduced further harm by displacing traffic to sites with few or zero Trust and Safety measures," it says.
So, as more states moved to pass age-verification laws, Pornhub opted to block access in those states, starting with Utah in 2023.
If you visit Pornhub in a state where the site is blocked, you're met with a message that argues the state's law is "ineffective, haphazard, and dangerous.
States argue that they're trying to protect children. "If a billion-dollar corporation would rather leave Missouri than verify that children are not accessing graphic sexual content, that tells you everything you need to know about its priorities," Missouri Attorney General Hanaway said in a statement. "We are proud to stand on the side of parents, families, and basic decency. Missouri will not apologize for protecting children.”
What Do These State Laws Do?
The laws are very similar, but here's a sampling of what they require.
In Alabama, access to Pornhub was blocked ahead of an age-verification law that went into