Pornhub blocked all users in Arkansas after the state’s new age verification law went into effect on Tuesday. The law requires porn sites to verify that users are at least 18 years old. Pornhub argued that requiring ID verification actually harms users’ privacy and puts children at risk. MindGeek, Pornhub’s operator, has decided to block access from states with similar age verification laws. After complying with a similar law in Louisiana, Pornhub traffic dropped by 80%, so they decided blocking access entirely was preferable to implementing age verification.


States they have blocked for similar laws: Virginia, Utah, Mississippi.

In Louisiana the first state to do this they tried to comply and their traffic decreased by 80%.

  • LastOneStanding@beehaw.org
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    1 year ago

    So, you know, I was a child in the 1980s, still had access to porn. In magazines, on VHS. They won’t stop making porn. If it’s out there, the people will access. The people who made these laws will access, no doubt. So dumb.

    • joenotjim@beehaw.org
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      1 year ago

      The problem is not access, it’s unlimited instant access. We had to wait until our parents weren’t home to raid Dad’s stash. Or catch a tape from someone’s uncle at a sleepover. It’s a world of difference.

      That being said, blocking is not the answer. Blocking the major sites just pushes people to smaller sites, which may be more likely to harbor revenge porn, underage content, nonconsensual content, etc.

      • LastOneStanding@beehaw.org
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        1 year ago

        I really don’t see the difference. Instant access versus delayed access… sounds like a Freud book I read about once about the pleasure principle. It’s all silly. The timing has nothing to do with anything. As a matter of fact, you’ve just argued yourself out of your own argument and made my point all over again. You can see it tomorrow, you can have it today. You can delay your pleasure. You can choose not to delay your pleasure. You can delay your pleasure because that’s what pleasures you.

        • jarfil@beehaw.org
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          1 year ago

          According to the cookies experiment, learning to delay instant rewards in exchange for higher future rewards, is a skill usually acquired at a young age that leads to higher success rates later in life.

          Applied to sexual pleasure, the choice might be less relevant in adults, but growing up and getting used to instant unlimited gratification, sounds like a way to end up with an incel/rape culture mindset.

          • fuzzywolf23@beehaw.org
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            1 year ago

            I think it’s dangerous and disingenuous to substitute your imagination for evidence when describing a trend that doesn’t appear to exist.

            Reported rates of rape are the same in 2020 as in 1990