Pornhub blocked access to users in Utah on Monday in an apparent protest of a new state law which enforces stricter age-verification measures for adult content. According to Axios, residents who visit the website now see a message from the company which says it has “made the difficult decision to completely disable access to our website in Utah.” According to Fox 13 in Salt Lake City, users began noticing a change early Monday after receiving a 403 “This state is not whitelisted” error message on the site. It was soon changed to feature a lengthy statement from Pornhub explaining: “As you may know, your elected officials in Utah are requiring us to verify your age before allowing you access to our website. While safety and compliance are at the forefront of our mission, giving your ID card every time you want to visit an adult platform is not the most effective solution for protecting our users, and in fact, will put children and your privacy at risk.” The new age verification law, Online Pornography Viewing Age Requirements, was enacted in March and is due to take effect on Wednesday. Brazzers, YouPorn and Redtube were also affected, Pornhub told Axios.
