Pornhub already bans users in 14 states. Florida joins that list in 2025

Pornhub is standing by plans to block anyone in Florida from accessing its website in January.

The same day, the world’s most visited pornography website will also shut down access in Tennessee and South Carolina. In all cases, the publisher will take the action in protest of age verification requirements being imposed starting with the new year.

“To be clear, in blocking access within these states, we are fully compliant with the law,” a spokesperson for Aylo, Pornhub’s parent company, wrote in an email.

Gov. Ron DeSantis in March signed new legislation (HB 3) requiring web publishers posting pornography and other content “harmful to minors” to utilize third-party age verification before users can access materials.

Aylo maintains that the new law in Florida places an unfair burden on publishers. The company spokesperson stressed that the company supports age verification requirements. But the company and other publishers have long argued such age checks should be done at the device level, such as through cellphone app stores, without the same security and privacy concerns from asking users to upload identification materials on the internet.

“Some people have erroneously interpreted us blocking access in Florida to mean that we are doing so because we don’t want to implement age verification. That is inaccurate,” the spokesperson wrote. “The problem is simply that the law is designed in a dangerous and haphazard way that puts in jeopardy user privacy and also the safety of both adults and children.”

Rep. Chase Tramont, a Port Orange Republican who sponsored the legislation, said that isn’t true, and that it makes sense for those publishing the content in question to monitor who accesses it.

“It’s simple: age verification at the site specifically verifies the user itself regardless of which device is being used,” Tramont said. “Call this for what it is. This is about passing the buck and the responsibility to anyone but themselves. Age verification methods are implemented everyday with a person’s privacy still protected. “

The law passed in the Florida House on a 109-4 vote. Notably, most dissenting votes voiced opposition to more controversial age verification requirements with social media platforms, and a bill focused only on pornography initially passed in the House on a 119-0 vote.

A number of states in recent years have already placed verification requirements on publishers. In fact, Aylo already blocks access to Pornhub in 14 other states with varying laws: Virginia, Montana, North Carolina, Arkansas, Utah, Mississippi, Texas, Nebraska, Idaho, Kansas, Kentucky, Indiana, Alabama and Oklahoma. The addition of three states in January will mean internet users in 17 states cannot access the site, with Florida the most populous on the list.

Yet, Pornhub as of October remained the seventh-most visited website worldwide, according to Semrush.

Tramont suggested Aylo likely cares more about its traffic than it does about privacy concerns.

“It’s not a situation where they CAN’T comply, they simply don’t WANT to comply,” Tramont said.

“They know that once they prevent children from accessing their site, the fewer hits their site will receive, and therefore less revenue generated through advertising. If they truly believed in age verification and protecting children from accessing their sites, they would be doing it. Fascinating how they waited until after the law was passed for them to want to join the conversation and present their solutions.”

The policy fight and access bans take place amid increasing concerns over “porn literacy,” with many academics calling for parents to have conversations with children about content — and about the differences between what they see on screen and the sexual activity of most adults.

A survey by Common Sense Media found some 73% of American children under age 18 had consumed pornography at some time. A paper published this year by the Journal of Family Medicine and Community Health and recently cited in The New York Times suggested primary care physicians need to discuss with adolescents how much pornography they consume.

Aylo maintains imposing restrictions like Florida’s will do little to deter the consumption of porn and may just drive youths to find it in less savory corners of the internet.

Of note, Pornhub has continued to allow users in Louisiana to access its content, even though other publishers shut down use in protest of a new law there. Yet, Pornhub saw an 80% decline in traffic when it started requiring age verification as required by that state’s laws. Users responded by migrating to dark web sources that did not comply with the law.

“We are eager to be part of this solution and are happy to collaborate with government, civil society and tech partners to arrive at an effective device-based age verification solution,” a statement from Aylo reads.