Ohio’s age-verification laws went into effect on September 30. But despite what you might read on Reddit, Pornhub is staying put in the Buckeye State.
Age-verification laws vary across states but typically require a visitor to a site that hosts explicit content to verify their age, beyond simply checking a box indicating they’re over 18. In Ohio’s in particular, any site that contains “any material or performance that is obscene or harmful to juveniles” must verify visitors’ ages using one’s photo ID or public or private data — like mortgage, educational, and employment records.
In many states where age-verification laws have been enacted, the tube site Pornhub has blocked itself due to the burden of complying with these laws. But Pornhub isn’t blocked in Ohio, its owner Aylo told Mashable, nor has it enabled age verification measures.
Unlike other state laws in places where Pornhub removed itself, Ohio’s law states that establishing age verification methods doesn’t apply to a provider of an interactive computer service (under section 1349.10).
“As a provider of an ‘interactive computer service’ as defined under Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act, it is our understanding that we are not subject to the obligations under section 1349.10 of the Ohio Revised Code regarding mandated age verification for the ‘interactive computer services’ we provide, such as Pornhub,” Aylo told Mashable in a statement.
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Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act of 1996 states that platforms aren’t liable for content that users upload onto them.
Aylo goes on to state that it has publicly supported age verification for users for years. “However, we believe that any law to this effect must preserve user safety and privacy and must effectively protect children from accessing content intended for adults.”
“Unfortunately, the way many jurisdictions worldwide have chosen to implement age verification is ineffective, haphazard, and failing to meet these basic requirements,” it goes on. It then advocates, as it has for years, for device-level filters in order to stop minors from accessing explicit content.
This summer, Pornhub announced that it will comply with the UK’s Online Safety Act, its own version of age verification. Such laws have swept the U.S. and abroad (despite experts telling Mashable they don’t work and will result in broader censorship), with Pornhub blocking itself in France due to its law as well.
While Pornhub is blocked from many states, Ohioans will be able to access it for the foreseeable future.
