Emily Brown
The number of US states in which Pornhub has blocked access is set to increase by one in the New Year after lawmakers passed a controversial law about adult websites.
Pornhub, the leading adult content and pornographic website for users across the globe, has already removed access for residents in 12 US states, where anyone attempting to access the site will be met with a message which says: "403 - This state is not whitelisted."
It might seem like a bizarre move for such a popular site, but Pornhub's decision comes in response to age verification laws which have been put into place in states across the US.
At the time of writing (December 18), the pornography site is already blocked in the following states:
As of January 1, residents in Florida will lose their access to the website as it responds to a bill signed into law by Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis in March.
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The law requires anonymous and standard age verification be put in place on adult sites, and any websites which fail to oblige may be fined up to $50,000 per violation by the state Department of Legal Affairs.
At a press conference, DeSantis said: "You can have a kid in the house safe, seemingly, and then you have predators that can get right in there into your own home. You could be doing everything right but they know how to get and manipulate these different platforms."
However, Pornhub has argued that this need for verification poses a privacy risk for its users.
The website now features a notice for users in Florida which reads: "Did you know that your government wants you to give your driver's license before you can access PORNHUB?
"As crazy as that sounds, it's true. You'll be required to prove you are 18 years or older such as by uploading your government ID for every adult content website you'd like to access.
"We don't want minors accessing our site and think preventing that from happening is a good thing. But putting everybody's privacy at risk won't achieve that."
In a statement to Florida Today, Pornhub's owner Aylo had made clear that it supports age verification of users, but it believes the law 'must preserve user safety and privacy, and must effectively protect children from accessing content intended for adults'.
"Unfortunately, the way many jurisdictions worldwide, including Florida, have chosen to implement age verification is ineffective, haphazard, and dangerous," a spokesperson said.
UNILAD has reached out to the governor's office for comment.