Pornhub blocks access in some US states after age verification rules go into effect

Pornographic website says that new measures will actually put children at risk

(Getty Images)

Pornhub, one of the world’s most popular adult websites, has gone offline in some US states.

The site is now inaccessible in Montana and North Carolina. Visitors will instead see a warning about changes that Pornhub warned would leave visitors unsafe.

The outage is a reaction to new laws in those states that will require adult websites to verify users’ identification to ensure they are over 18. Pornhub appears to have taken itself offline in those states instead.

Visitors will see a warning informing them that “elected officials [...] are requiring us to verify your age before allowing 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,” the site warns.

Visitors to other websites that are owned by Pornhub parent company Aylo also saw a similar message, alongside a video from adult performer Cherie DeVille.

Pornhub has said that it prefers device-based verification. Such a system could see device makers such as Apple verify that a person is an adult and then let adult websites verify that device, for instance, though privacy experts have warned that could hand more power over to large technology companies.

Some users have found they are able to get online using virtual private networks, or VPNs, which allow them to pose as if they are in a different state or country entirely. But otherwise the site is blocked to users in those locations.

Security expert Matthew Green suggested that the change could allow for new kinds of censorship on the internet. “The move to add ‘age verification’ to websites at the state level is pretty worrying, and is functionally pretty close to a complete ban on certain websites,” he wrote.

He said that the ban likely wouldn’t affect pornography but that he is “worried about what these laws get used for *after* they’re tested and allowed by the courts”. “I think that’s going to be very unpleasant,” he wrote on Twitter.

The new laws in Montana and North Carolina are part of a broader crackdown on adult material across the internet. The UK has been looking to introduce its own age verification system, for instance, which might also require users to show a identification if they want to access those websites.