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Adult media creation company MindGeek has blocked access to its websites in Utah, including PornHub, Brazzers, RedTube, YouPorn and Reality Kings, in response to a new law requiring sites to check whether a visitor from the state is 18 or older.
The move comes after the Governor of Utah signed the ‘SB 287 Age Requirements for Viewing Online Pornography’ bill in March, which comes into force today.
Under this bill, porn sites are required to verify that a visitor is at least 18 years old using uploaded government IDs or a third-party age verification service.
“Requires a commercial entity that provides pornography and other material defined as harmful to minors as a substantial part of the entity’s content to verify the age of persons accessing the material,” reads SB 287.
Failure to verify the age of visitors to Utah would make the company “liable to an individual for damages resulting from a minor’s access to the materials, including court costs and reasonable attorney’s fees.” attorney ordered by the court”.
MindGeek is one of the largest online adult content creators in the world, claiming to have over 125 million daily visits and 100 billion video views per year from its network of sites.
BleepingComputer has confirmed that in response to SB287, MindGeek properties are no longer accessible to visitors from Utah and instead display a message directing visitors to contact their representatives to switch to age verification solutions based on devices.
“As you may know, your elected officials in Utah require us to verify your age before allowing you access to our website. While security and compliance are at the forefront of our mission, giving your card identity every time you want to visit an adult is not the most effective way to protect our users and, in fact, will put children and your privacy at risk.
Additionally, mandating age verification without proper enforcement gives platforms the flexibility to choose whether or not to comply. As we have seen in other states, this only drives traffic to sites with far fewer security measures in place. Very few sites can compare to the strong trust and security measures we currently have in place. To protect children and user privacy, all legislation must be enforced against all platforms offering adult content.
The security of our users is one of our main concerns. We believe that the best and most effective solution to protect children and adults is to identify users by their device and allow access to age-restricted content and websites based on this identification. Until a real solution is offered, we have made the difficult decision to completely disable access to our website in Utah.
Please reach out to your representatives before it’s too late and demand device-based verification solutions that make the internet safer while respecting your privacy.”
Visitors to PornHub are also greeted by a video of adult film star Cherie DeVille reading the above message on camera.
BleepingComputer contacted MindGeek to inquire about the device-based age verification systems they offer, but a response was not immediately available.
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