Unfortunately for Beehive State libertines, engaging in one of the state’s favorite pastimes just got appreciably more difficult. Thanks to a new Utah law requiring adult sites to verify the age of their users, Pornhub—one of the highest-trafficked sites on the entire web—is shutting down access to Utahns entirely. The move comes in response to SB 287: Online Pornography Viewing Age Requirements, which was signed by the governor in March and is in effect as of May 2.
According to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (aka Mormons), masturbation is a sin that should be assiduously avoided at all costs. This could help explain why LDS-dominated Utah, according to a 2009 Harvard study, is a top consumer of online porn. Apparently, they’re watching the videos all the way through to the end.
But now when Utah residents log on to one of their favorite sites, they’re greeted with a message from adult film actress Cherie DeVille, who explains why the site is down and why the law doesn’t actually accomplish what it sets out to do.
Here’s what DeVille tells would-be (self-) pleasure seekers:
“As you may know, your elected officials have required us to verify your age before granting you access to our website. 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.
“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. Very few sites are able to compare to the robust trust and safety measures we currently have in place. In order to protect children and user privacy, any legislation must be enforced against all platforms offering adult content.
“The safety of our users is one of our biggest concerns. However, the best and most effective solution for protecting children and adults alike is to identify users by their device and allow access to age-restricted materials and websites based on that identification. Until a real solution is offered, we have made the difficult decision to completely disable access to our website in your region.”
Now, no one thinks kids should be watching porn. But this looks suspiciously like a case of a legislature desperately trying to do something in the face of a virtually ungovernable societal phenomenon—and not only failing to address the problem, but making it much worse.
The Utah law states that a “commercial entity that knowingly and intentionally publishes or distributes material harmful to minors on the Internet from a website that contains a substantial portion of such material shall be held liable if the entity fails to perform reasonable age verification methods to verify the age of an individual attempting to access the material.” Apparently, that requirement is unwieldy enough that Pornhub decided it could no longer do business in Utah.
That actually appears to be a big win for the law’s proponents. So what’s the issue then? Well, this is the internet—and to paraphrase Jeff Goldblum in “Jurassic Park,” the internet finds a way. After all, there are plenty of places on the worldwide web that are (much) seamier than Pornhub.
VICE:
Experts say that age verification doesn’t work to protect children online, and only works to drive material that is harmful to minors to less safe spaces on the internet, while exposing adults to more risk of identity theft, private data hacks, and extortion. Immediately after SB 287 passed the house and senate in Utah, residents there started discussing how best to use virtual private networks to keep accessing porn.
And some of those less safe spaces could be beyond the reach of law enforcement—and may even feature moral grotesqueries like child pornography.
Axios:
Some sites likely will neither block Utahns nor comply with the new rules, [Free Speech Coalition spokesperson Michael] Stabile said — and ... Stabile argued those sites could see an upswing in traffic.
- Age verification laws can "drive people to less regulated sites" that may operate abroad and whose owners do not fear civil liability in the USA, Stabile said. "They drive people to pirate sites, and sites that don't verify or they have illegal content" like child pornography.
Pornhub is still available to residents of Louisiana, which passed an age-verification law that went into effect in January. Users there are directed to a webpage that allows them to verify their age with a digital ID system, but no such system currently exists in Utah. According to a Pornhub spokesperson, traffic to the site from Louisiana residents is down 80%—though it's unclear how many users have gravitated elsewhere.
Utah also declared pornography a “public health crisis” in 2016—a term echoed by Arkansas state legislators in their own new “age verification” law. Utah also wants device manufacturers to automatically block porn on all devices sold in the state—but needs five other states to join the fun.
Of course, there’s plenty of reason to look at the porn industry with a jaundiced eye. It’s proven difficult for even “legitimate” businesses like Pornhub to keep objectionable content—involving exploited people, for instance, or revenge porn—from appearing on their sites. But this might be one of those societal phenomena—involving an extremely popular product, like alcohol, that’s both enjoyed and abused by millions—that begs for viable, common-sense regulation, rather than knee-jerk legislation from moral scolds. Sadly, the Utah law appears to be a far cry from such a solution.
RELATED STORY: Right-wing smear artists baldly lie about Idaho public schools teaching ‘porn literacy’ to children
Speaking of scolds, you know who really doesn’t like Pornhub? Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene. Why does she hate it? Hunter Biden, natch.
The Daily Beast:
Marjorie Taylor Greene is disgusted that websites like Pornhub exist, and even more horrified that Hunter Biden may have used them. Raw Story reports that the Republican from Georgia shared her newfound knowledge of the adult film landscape in a keynote address at the Putnam County [Ohio] Lincoln-Reagan Dinner on Sunday. “There is a website–you may or may not have heard about it–called PornHub,” Greene said. “It is a disgusting porn website. As a matter of fact, it should be illegal. I don’t even know why it exists.” Greene went on to claim that she recently found out that Hunter Biden had “multiple accounts” on “this Pornhub, pornography, sex website,” prompting her outrage. “These are accounts where he posted his sex videos,” she said. “He still has an account on Pornhub where his videos are posted. It is still live and active. This is the son of the president of the United States.”
“This is the son of the president of the United States.” Uh huh. Meanwhile, anyone can find nude photos of Melania Trump online in less than 10 seconds. And that's … totally fine.
So what is MTG’s point exactly? Seriously, how many people—other than Marjorie Taylor Greene—are actually searching Pornhub for Hunter Biden’s schwanzenstucker?
Unlike the number of LDS Pornhub users looking for an access workaround, I’d have to guess the total is vanishingly small.
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