Pornhub Will Soon Be Shut Off in Florida, on Top of These 12 States

12/20/2024 10:50 AM

A new Florida law will require visitors on pornographic sites to confirm their age with methods like uploading a government ID, which Pornhub is calling a "dangerous" infringement of privacy

Florida residents are set to lose access to Pornhub.

Aylo, the parent company of Pornhub — the world's top adult entertainment site — has chosen to restrict its site usage in Florida, the company confirmed to Florida Politics on Dec. 18.

Twelve states across the U.S. have already lost access to the platform, CBS News reports: Arkansas, Idaho, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Montana, Mississippi, Nebraska, North Carolina, Texas and Virginia.

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This decision comes after the Florida Legislature passed HB 3, a law that will require age verification for anyone trying to access pornographic sites. The law, which extends to any other online publishers of content "harmful to minors," was approved in March and is set to go into effect on Jan. 1, 2025.

In a written statement to Florida Politics, Aylo claimed that requiring adult sites to collect users' personal information is "ineffective, haphazard and dangerous."

"Any regulations that require hundreds of thousands of adult sites to collect significant amounts of highly sensitive personal information is putting user safety in jeopardy," the statement read. "Moreover, as experience has demonstrated, unless properly enforced, users will simply access non-compliant sites or find other methods of evading these laws."

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Those looking to visit Pornhub in states that have banned access will see the message, "403 - This state is not whitelisted."

In states where the site is still available, Aylo added a pop-up warning that informed users of the implications of laws like HB 3.

"Did you know that your government wants you to give your driver's license before you can access PORNHUB?" the warning says, according to CBS. "As crazy as that sounds, it's true. You'll be required to prove you are 18 years or older such as by uploading your government ID for every adult content website you'd like to access." 

"We don't want minors accessing our site and think preventing that from happening is a good thing. But putting everybody's privacy at risk won't achieve that," the warning concludes.