Pornhub disables all Tennessee access under new age verification law

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Adult entertainment site Pornhub has blocked access to Tennesseans following the implementation of a Tennessee law requiring adult content sites to verify users’ ages through uploading IDs or other forms of identification to access the site.

The Protect Tennessee Minors Actwhich was passed in May and temporarily blocked on December 31 due to an ongoing lawsuit against the state by the adult organization and advocacy group Free Speech Coalition, was allowed to take effect on January 14 after an appeals court ruled in the case.

In response, Pornhub, one of the largest adult entertainment companies in the world, announced Tuesday that it has cut access for Tennessee users — leading to a spike in online searches for “VPN,” or virtual private network, in the state, according to Google.

The new law requires websites with 33% or more of their content deemed “harmful to minors” to verify the age of every user trying to access the site every 60 minutes by uploading a state ID or in another way, such as facial recognition, such as as well as keep seven years of anonymized data about users who access the site.

Violation of this law results in criminal offences. While similar laws have been passed in 19 other states, Tennessee is the only one with such a harsh penalty.

After Monday’s reinstatement of the law, Tennessee Attorney General Jonathan Skrmetti called the ruling “another victory for Tennessee” in a social media post.

“We are pleased that the unanimously passed Protect Tennessee Minors Act will remain in effect while this case continues,” Skrmetti said. “As the appeals court noted, this law seeks to stem the flow of toxic content for children and keep adult websites for adults only.”

In a statement, Pornhub emphasized its commitment to user safety and legal compliance, but pushed back against the state law, saying it will “put children and your privacy at risk.”

“Mandating age verification without proper enforcement allows platforms to choose whether to comply or not,” the company said. “As we’ve seen in other states, this just drives traffic to sites with far fewer safeguards in place.”

In the statement, the company advocated “device-based verification,” which verifies a user’s access based on the device’s account ownership, rather than age-based verification, which verifies a user’s access based on repeated uploads of sensitive information.

“Until a real solution is offered, we have made the difficult decision to completely disable access to our website in Tennessee,” the company said.

Pornhub added that parents can “easily” block access to the website, regardless of state law, and provided information for parents seeking to do so.

Pornhub has completely cut access in 14 other states, including Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Idaho, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Montana, Mississippi, Nebraska, North Carolina, Texas, Utah and Virginia.

The Supreme Court on Wednesday heard the Free Speech Coalition v. Paxton case regarding Texas’ nearly identical age verification law. Although no ruling has been made, the outcome of the case will likely affect the outcome of the Free Speech Coalition’s lawsuit in Tennessee.

USA TODAY Network – Tennessee’s coverage of First Amendment issues is funded through a partnership between the Freedom Forum and Journalism Funding Partners.

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