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The Free Speech Coalitions warns porn websites about a new internet censorship law starting 1st September in Texas
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 | 25th August 2023
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| See article from freespeechcoalition.com
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The Texas age-verification and labeling law is scheduled to take effect September 1, 2023. While multiple age-verification laws have taken effect this year, Texas will join Louisiana in allowing direct government enforcement. According to the law, the
Attorney General may fine a site with adult content $10,000 per day, and up to $250,000 if it fails to adequately verify the age of visitors and a minor is able to access it. Additionally, the Texas law requires all adult sites to affix warning
messages to any page with adult content stating the supposed harms of viewing adult material. These 'warnings' are as follows: TEXAS HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES WARNING:
Pornography is potentially biologically addictive, is proven to harm human brain development, desensitizes brain reward circuits, increases conditioned responses, and weakens brain function. Exposure
to this content is associated with low self-esteem and body image, eating disorders, impaired brain development, and other emotional and mental illnesses. Pornography increases the demand for prostitution, child exploitation,
and child pornography.
Free Speech Coalition and a collection of leading adult platforms have filed a legal challenge to the Texas law, including a motion for preliminary injunction. While we are hopeful the challenge will succeed, and that a decision will be
made prior to the start of enforcement, all members should be aware of the law and the risks of non-compliance. Alison Boden, Executive Director of Free Speech Coalition said: This is a blatantly unconstitutional law,
but the stakes are high for individual adult businesses with websites accessible in the state of Texas. We urge every platform and creator to review their potential exposure to legal liability with their legal counsel.
Free Speech
Coalition has created landing pages for platforms that geo-block access to their sites from within the state of Texas , as it has in other states that have instituted
age verification. The page explains why the site is blocked, and provides an avenue for residents to contact their representatives. However, geo-blocking a state does not necessarily provide safe harbor from the law. The law, including the
required age-verification methods and the legal warning stipulated, are available here . |
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Fans will have to use a VPN to access Pornhub in Virginia
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| 1st July 2023
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| See article from
dailymail.co.uk |
One of the most visited sites in the world, Pornhub, has blocked users in Virginia over the state's new age verification law. The new law taking effect July 1 now requires websites with pornographic content being viewed in Virginia to verify that
users are at least 18 years old before they can view the site. The law, proposed by Republican state Sen. William M. Stanley Jr. (Franklin), sailed through the Virginia General Assembly. Pornhub decided that it would be blocking all Virginia users
rather than try to implement unsafe and privacy endangering age verification. Pornhub wrote in a message to those attempting to log in: The safety of our users is one of our biggest concerns. We believe that 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 Virginia.'
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Just how stupid is it to expect people to type in personal ID into any foreign porn site that asks?
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| 17th June 2023
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| See article from avn.com
See
Pornhub announcement from vimeo.com |
Pornhub has released a new public service announcement on its homepage for site visitors in Virginia, Mississippi and Arkansas imploring them to contact their representatives and protest the age-verification laws for online adult content recently passed
in each of those states. The announcement features 2023 AVN MILF Performer of the Year Cherie DeVille, who last month appeared in a similar video for the website that greets visitors in Utah, where access to the site has been otherwise blocked in
retaliation for a similar law that went into effect there May 3. Meanwhile, in Louisiana, where yet another age-verification measure took effect January 1 of this year, Pornhub is currently complying with the requirement using a state-sanctioned
digital ID mobile app called LA Wallet, making Louisiana the first state to implement a digital driver's license. According to a story today by tech site Ars Technica, a Pornhub spokesperson reported that Pornhub was one of the few adult sites to put an
ID requirement into place in the state, and since doing so, Pornhub's Louisiana traffic dropped by approximately 80 percent as adult content seekers presumably chose to visit sites that do not require ID. DeVille underscores this point noting:
As we've seen in other states where similar laws have passed, this just drives activities to other sites with far fewer or even no safety measures in place. This clearly demonstrates that poorly executed age verification
solutions only make the internet more unsafe.
The Ars Technica story went on to add, Pornhub reported that Louisiana users have already experienced identity theft as a result of the age verification law there. |
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