Pornhub Disables Access in Texas

Pornhub has disabled access to its website in Texas following a ruling by the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals.

Social media accounts circulated Pornhub’s announcement to disable access to the state.

X user Shea Jordan Smith posted screenshots of the statement from the porn company, which stated, “The safety of our users is one of our biggest concerns. We believe that the only effective solution for protecting minors and adults alike is to verify users’ age on their device and to either deny or allow access to age-restricted materials and websites based on that verification.

“We call on all adult sites to comply with the law. Until the real solution is offered, we have made the difficult decision to completely disable access.”

The bipartisan Texas HB 1181, which requires age verification checks by websites offering pornography, went into effect in November. 

After the law was passed, Pornhub and other organizations sued Texas, initially obtaining an injunction from a district court. However, Attorney General Paxton immediately appealed and secured a stay, allowing him to enforce the law, as previously reported in The Dallas Express. 

“Now, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit has partially vacated the original injunction, ruling that the age verification requirements are constitutional,” a news release from the Attorney General’s Office stated last week. 

However, the Court of Appeals upheld the lower court’s injunction against the portion of the law that would require pornography websites to display a health warning about the dangers of pornography.