Pornhub Block Expands to Alabama: How to Watch Anyway
Pornhub is now blocked in Alabama amid a battle over the states' age-verification laws.
It joins Arkansas, Indiana, Kentucky, Mississippi, Montana, North Carolina, Texas, Utah, Virginia, and Utah, where the adult site is also blocked—unless you try to get around it with a VPN (more on that below). It's also poised to happen in Florida, where an age-verification law goes into effect on Jan. 1, 2025.
In Alabama, access to Pornhub was blocked ahead of an age-verification law that goes into effect on Oct. 1, AL.com reports. Under HB164, adult sites must use "reasonable age verification methods" to confirm that people are over the age of 18 and display warnings about porn being "potentially biologically addictive" and harmful to "human brain development"
In Indiana, SB17 went into effect on June 27, and requires sites that offer adult content to "use a reasonable age verification method to prevent a minor from accessing an adult-oriented website." Detractors argue that it could have a chilling effect on free speech since people may fear having their identities exposed should a site like Pornhub ever be breached. The California-based Free Speech Coalition and a group of adult platforms, including Pornhub parent company Aylo, have sued, arguing that "laws like SB17 have effectively functioned as state censorship."
Indiana Attorney General Todd Rokita, however, says "children shouldn't be able to easily access explicit material that can cause them harm. It's commonsense. We need to protect and shield them from the psychological and emotional consequences associated with viewing porn. We look forward to upholding our constitutional duty to defend this law in court."
In Kentucky, House Bill 278 is similar and applies to sites where more than one-third of its content would be considered harmful to minors.
At issue in Texas is HB 1181, which requires adult sites to verify that visitors are of age. It was set to go into effect in September 2023, but Pornhub sued and secured an early victory. Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton appealed and got a temporary reprieve in March, allowing the state to enforce HB 1181. Pornhub responded by blocking access to its site in the state a few months ago.
As noted by CBS Austin political reporter Michael Adkison, those who visit Pornhub in Texas are now met with a message that argues the Texas law is "ineffective, haphazard, and dangerous."
"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," the message adds.
Pornhub further argues that this type of legislation will only drive people to less scrupulous sites, which "put minors and your privacy at risk."
"This is not the end. We are reviewing options and consulting with our legal team," Alex Kekesi, VP of Brand and Community at Aylo, said following the Texas ban. (These bans affect all sites run by Aylo, formerly MindGeek—which includes YouPorn, RedTube, Brazzers, and more.)
This battle kicked off almost a year ago when Pornhub blocked access in Utah over a similar age-verification law. As more states adopted these laws, Pornhub blockades followed. By early 2024, it was also blocked in North Carolina, Montana, Arkansas, Mississippi, and Virginia.
In North Carolina, House Bill 8 is a larger education bill that also covers things like adding a computer science requirement for high school graduation. But it also imposes the age-verification check for adult sites. In signing the bill in late September, Gov. Roy Cooper said those age checks are "important...to help protect children from online pornography."
HB8 requires sites to use "a commercially available database that is regularly used by businesses or governmental entities for the purpose of age and identity verification or...another commercially reasonable method." Sites that fail to comply could face a civil action from the parents of kids who viewed pornography or anyone whose data is unlawfully retained.
In Montana, SB 544 requires sites to verify age by having people provide "a digitized identification card" or access a "commercial age verification system" that checks a government ID or uses some other sort of "commercially reasonable method" to verify someone's age.
In both states, sites are covered by the laws if at least 33.3% of its content is adult in nature.