Over the past 18 months, more than a dozen U. S. states have been in the U. S. U. S. agencies have imposed or devised plans to limit adult entertainment sites, with some social media posts claiming that Pornhub has been banned in several states.
Politicians have argued that such measures are aimed at protecting children. At the same time, owners say the restrictions won’t have that effect, leading to a loss of profits for content creators and a suppression of artistic freedoms.
In a series of social media posts, he claimed that the restrictions represented a “ban,” and that maps shared online purportedly showed the states where this “ban” was imposed on adult devices.
A Reddit post via user CFrosty10, published on June 17, 2024, titled “Pornhub banned in those states. Good luck,” included a map of the United States, marking Idaho, Utah, Texas, Missouri, Arkansas, Mississippi, Louisiana, North. Carolina and Virginia a “Pornhub ban. “
Facts
Since then, CFrosty10’s post and others shared on social media have been deleted by moderators or users.
While the explanation for those removals is unclear, the maps and claims are misleading, because while those states have imposed restrictions on access to the adult online site Pornhub, it hasn’t been banned entirely.
Nor are they the states where restrictions have been imposed. As Newsweek reported in May, Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Indiana, Kansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Montana, Nebraska, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Texas, Utah, and Virginia have ended or agreed to restrictive laws.
However, none of those states have banned it entirely, opting for age verification to check that users are over 18 years old. Each state has its own edition of the age verification law, but the precept is similar in all states.
While there is text on the back of the symbol posted on Reddit
The restrictions also apply to other websites, only Pornhub.
However, Pornhub later blocked this site, as well as its sister sites on the content network, and an appeals court ruled that Texas can simply enforce a law requiring age verification systems on pornographic websites.
Aylo, the company that owns Pornhub, YouPorn and Brazzers, said the new ones were “ineffective, random and dangerous. “
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton sued Aylo in February 2024, accusing the company of violating House Bill 1181, which requires pornographic websites to “use moderate methods of age verification” to “verify that a user attempting to access the curtains is 18 years old. “age or older. “”.
The bill, which Gov. Greg Abbott signed into law in June 2023, also calls for “displaying fitness warnings about the effects of pornography use. “
In a 2-1 ruling in February 2024, the U. S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth CircuitThe U. S. Securities and Exchange Commission ruled in favor of the law, but said Texas would not enforce the provision requiring questionable fitness warnings.
A lower court blocked the law in an initial ruling on Aug. 31, a day before it was due to take effect. U. S. District Judge David Ezra ruled that this would infringe on adults’ free speech by requiring them to identify themselves to use the site and that there were other tactics to prevent young people from ingesting pornography.
The decision
It needs context.
Although more than a dozen states have established or are contemplating restrictions requiring age verification for adult websites, this does not prohibit all users. Even though Pornhub got rid of its site in Texas, following a long war among local lawmakers to impose age restrictions, the site wouldn’t have been completely “banned” if it hadn’t.
FACT-CHECKING BY Newsweek’s fact-checking team
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