Pornhub shuts down site in Utah due to age verification law

Porn site Pornhub has shut down its site in the US state of Utah. A law went into effect on Tuesday that requires sites to check the age of users if there is porn on the site. Pornhub strongly opposes that measure.

Pornhub blacks site in Utah, May 2023

Instead of the regular website, Pornhub in Utah shows a text and a video in which a porn actress explains why the regular site is not available. Instead of requiring age verification, parent company MindGeek chooses to shut down the site. The company believes the state should regulate age verification on users’ devices and not per site.

The legislator thinks otherwise and has been in force in Utah since Tuesday a law that prescribes that porn sites check users’ age before showing material.

Due to the regulations, MindGeek believes that underage Pornhub users are going to other sites that do not comply with the regulations. Pornhub has already built in an identification check in Louisiana. This will also happen in several other states.