Major adult website blocks Kentucky users after new state law requires age ID to log in

CINCINNATI (WKRC) – Adult website Pornhub has blocked access to Kentucky users following the passage of a new state law requiring anyone trying to log in to show a government-issued ID proving they are 21 or older.

Bill No. 278 is primarily concerned with protecting children from crimes and sex offenders, but it also includes a new provision that anyone logging in to an adult website must show an official ID proving that they are over 21 years old.

It officially came into force on July 15.

Here’s the message users seeing when they visit the site in Kentucky:

“As you may be aware, your elected officials have required us to verify your age before granting you access to our site,” said the adult film actress, whose photos can be found on the site. “Until a real solution is offered, we have made the difficult decision to completely disable access to our site in your region.”

State Rep. Steve Rawlings, (R)-Burlington, co-sponsored the bill, which passed nearly unanimously and was signed into law by Democratic Gov. Andy Beshear. He knew Pornhub had restricted access in other restricted states, but was surprised it happened in Kentucky.

“Different things to protect children, like preserving their integrity and age-appropriate education,” Rawlings said when asked why he proposed the bill. “(To) protect children and schools from harmful materials. So this bill fits right in with my priorities.”

“Was one of your intentions with this bill that they were hoping they would actually shut down Kentucky?” Local 12 told Rawlings.

“Yes, I can say from my perspective, and I think from the perspective of other legislators as well. That was the intention,” Rawlings said.

Pornhub’s parent company, Aylo, did not have anyone available for an interview. In a statement, it called such laws “ineffective, random, and dangerous.”

“Any regulations requiring hundreds of thousands of adult websites to collect significant amounts of highly sensitive personal information puts user safety at risk,” the company said.

Aylo also argues that age verification should be done on the user’s device via other technology, rather than by asking the user to provide an ID.

Here is the company’s full statement:

“Aylo has publicly supported age verification for years, but we believe that any age verification regulations must protect user safety and privacy and effectively prevent children from accessing adult content.

Unfortunately, the way many jurisdictions around the world have chosen to implement age verification is ineffective, haphazard, and dangerous. Any regulation that requires hundreds of thousands of adult sites to collect significant amounts of highly sensitive personal information puts user safety at risk. Furthermore, as experience has shown, if not properly enforced, users will simply access non-compliant sites or find other methods to circumvent the regulations.

This isn’t speculation. We’ve seen this scenario play out in the United States. In Louisiana last year, Pornhub was one of the few sites to comply with the new law. Since then, our traffic in Louisiana has dropped by about 80%. These people haven’t stopped looking for porn. They’ve simply moved to darker corners of the internet that don’t ask for age verification, don’t follow the law, don’t take user safety seriously, and often don’t even moderate content. In practice, the law has simply made the internet more dangerous for adults and children.

The best solution to make the internet safer, preserve user privacy, and prevent children from accessing adult content is to do age verification at the source: on the device. The technology to do this exists today. What is required is the political and social will to make it happen. We want to be part of the solution and are eager to work with government, civil society, and technology partners to achieve an effective device-based age verification solution.

In addition, many devices already offer free and easy-to-use parental controls that can prevent children from accessing adult content without risking the disclosure of sensitive user data. The safety of our users is our top priority. We will always comply with the law, but we hope that governments around the world will implement laws that actually protect user safety.”

The Coalition for Free Speech, an adult website industry group, also says such personal information is a target for hackers and can be stolen, and these laws only direct users to less secure sites operated outside the U.S.

Kentucky was the 12th state to pass such a law. Five other states have laws that will take effect in the next 12 months. Indiana lawmakers also passed a similar law this year, but the Free Speech Coalition challenged it in court, and a district judge ruled it unconstitutional in early July.

A similar bill is currently under consideration by the Ohio General Assembly.