RALEIGH, N.C. (CN) — Pornhub has cut off access in North Carolina in advance of a bill that requires age verification on adult sites that will take effect on Jan. 1, 2024.
House Bill 8, which passed in the North Carolina House in late September and was signed into law by Governor Roy Cooper, requires age verification by “any commercial entity that knowingly and intentionally publishes or distributes material harmful to minors on the internet.” Civil suits to enforce the law can be brought against the company or third parties performing the age verification.
The bill requires sites to confirm the ages of its users through a “commercially available database” or another “commercially reasonable method of age and identity verification.” It had bipartisan support and passed almost unanimously in the House, with a vote of 102-8. It passed unanimously in the Senate.
Sites are not allowed to retain identifying information after confirming the user’s age and identity. Users can sue if their information is saved, and so can parents whose children were able to access the website.
“Age verification is required for the purchase of alcohol, tobacco, and online sports betting because of the associated risks to our children and pornography is just as dangerous,” said Representative Neal Jackson, a Republican who advocated for the provision. “Age verification laws have proven to be highly successful at combating many of the mental health issues of today’s youth.”
Common Sense Media reported in January that 54% of teens had been exposed to porn by age 13, and that 73% of 13- to 17-year-old respondents have watched porn online.
Age verification bills have been passed in eight states and introduced in another 10, according to the National Decency Coalition; laws in Louisiana, Virginia, Utah and Montana require age checks to ensure users on adult sites are at least 18 years old.
After Virginia's bill was passed in June, Virginia Senator L. Louise Lucas, a Democrat, criticized the state for not creating a system for age verification, and instead leaving it up to websites to manage the process, citing security risks.
“We passed a bill during this session to protect children from online porn. However the executive branch had an obligation to create a system for age verification,” Lucas said on X, formerly Twitter. “We will continue our work to keep pornography out of the hands of minors…but we will also work to ensure that this Governor’s error does not put the privacy of Virginians at further risk.”
In Louisiana, the first state to implement age verification, a digital ID platform guards privacy by reporting whether or not a user is of age without relaying personal information like birth dates, names or addresses.
North Carolina’s provision doesn't create a platform for verification, and instead leaves the process up to the websites.
Pornhub’s homepage now displays a message to North Carolina users explaining the company’s decision to stop operating in the state — just as it has in all other states that passed similar age verification legislation.
Politico estimated that age verification costs Pornhub 65 cents per person.
“As you may know, your elected officials in North Carolina are requiring us to verify your age before allowing you access to our website,” adult entertainer Cherie DeVille said in a video message that pops up when users attempt to access the 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 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 North Carolina.”
Pornhub was the most widely used platform to act in advance of the bill going into effect, but it’s not the only one. Brazzers and YouPorn also display the same message to users, blocking access.
Pornhub encouraged users to petition their legislators and push for device-based verification solutions which they say “make the internet safer while also respecting your privacy.”
Age verification will be required for adult website users in North Carolina starting Jan. 1, 2024.
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