Pornhub blocks access by Nebraska users as age verification law takes effect

State Sen. Dave Murman of Glenvil speaks during a hearing of the Nebraska Legislature on Sept. 8, 2023. (Zach Wendling/Nebraska Examiner)

LINCOLN — Nebraskans might need a new source for online smut, as Pornhub and its affiliates went dark Monday, a decision the website’s parent company promised after passage of a new state law. 

That law, Legislative Bill 1092, requires online porn companies to verify users’ ages. Users would upload ID cards or other age-identifying documents.

Among the legally acceptable options: records from employers, mortgage companies, banks or educational institutions.

‘Material harmful to minors’

Nebraska’s Legislative Bill 1092, the Online Age Verification Liability Act, takes effect Friday July 19. The law defines a minor as anyone under 18 years of age.

It defines “material harmful to minors” as something the average person, applying contemporary community standards, would find appeals to or is designed to pander to the prurient interest. 

The material must be patently offensive to prevailing standards for minors. And the material must lack serious literary, artistic, political or scientific value for minors.

State Sen. Dave Murman of Glenvil has said he modeled the bill after efforts in other conservative-led states. His law requires the company to verify a user’s age and then get rid of the data.

His main goal was to reduce access to porn by minors, pointing to research that he says showed more minors are accessing porn at younger ages.

“I’m not sure who said good riddance first, myself or the governor, but I’m not disappointed,” Murman said Monday. “I haven’t personally seen it, but from what I hear it’s not good for anyone.”

Data risks real, critics say

Critics of the law, including some who agree with the goal of limiting youth access to porn, such as State Sen. Carol Blood of Bellevue, say LB 1092 puts user data at risk.

Blood has argued instead for a data broker registry that would let consumers know who has access to their data, as well as why and what the companies do with the information.

First Amendment advocates and others pushing for freer expression have argued that children today carry the internet in their pockets, via smartphones and other devices, and will find other ways to access porn.

On Monday, adults in Nebraska who tried to access any of Aylo’s websites or videos were met with a video statement from a porn star sharing the company’s decision to end access.

Cherie DeVille, an adult-video actress who has a contract with Aylo subsidiaries, tells local visitors in the video that they will not be able to access the site.

DeVille echoed Aylo’s previous statements that it would prefer verifying a user’s age at the device level instead of putting more personal information on the web.

She and Aylo have argued that users will go to less secure parts of the internet for porn with “far fewer safety measures in place.”

“Until a real solution is offered, we’ve made the difficult decision to completely disable access to our website in your region,” DeVille said in the video message.

Murman said lawmakers “want to keep your data safe, for sure.”

“I guess I’m not knowledgeable enough about it to know which way would be the best for keeping data safe,” Murman said.

Court to take up challenge

The U.S. Supreme Court has agreed to hear a challenge from the porn industry and other free speech advocates against Texas’ version of the age-verification law, which a lower court partially upheld.

Nebraska passed its version of the law 35-3 in April. It creates a new civil liability for knowingly or intentionally publishing or distributing material harmful to minors on the internet.

Anyone could sue a commercial entity or third party for alleged violations of the law. Internet providers solely offering access or connections to the sites are exempt.

Local users can still access the site, however, using virtual private networks that mask where they are from.

Other states whose users are blocked because of similar laws are Arkansas, Idaho, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Mississippi, Montana, North Carolina, Texas, Utah and Virginia. 

Florida has passed a similar law, but it doesn’t go into effect until next year. 

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