PornHub, a popular pornographic video website, became inaccessible in Texas on Thursday.
The porn site announced that, in compliance with a new Texas law, it would stop providing its services in the state, according to the Texas Scorecard.
“We have made the difficult decision to completely disable access to our website in Texas,” a letter from PornHub read.
🚨#BREAKING: PornHub has just pulled its services out of Texas due to age verification law pic.twitter.com/Opotcv9v7I
— R A W S A L E R T S (@rawsalerts) March 14, 2024
The new state law, titled House Bill 1181, requires pornographic websites to use “reasonable” methods to verify that users are at least 18 years old before granting them access to sexual content, the outlet reported. Platforms that fail to verify the age of users will face fines of up to $10,000 per day and up to $250,000 if “one or more minors accesses sexual material harmful to minors” due to the lack of age verification.
PornHub sued Texas after the law was enacted, arguing that it violated both the First Amendment and porn viewers’ privacy, according to the outlet. PornHub also said in its announcement that the state’s new law would not protect children. (RELATED: New State Law Requires Government-Issued ID To Watch Porn)
PornHub saw initial success when a federal district judge issued a preliminary injunction against enforcing House Bill 1181. Texas, however, appealed to the U.S. Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals, which lifted the injunction in March, granting the state permission to enforce the law pending appeal in Nov. 2023.
Texas is not the first state to pass an age-verification law affecting PornHub. Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin signed a bill in May 2023 requiring pornography websites to verify the age of their users, and PornHub responded by blocking access in the state.
Due to similar legislation, the site is also unavailable in Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Montana, North Carolina and Utah, according to The Verge.