SALT LAKE CITY — Pornhub disabled today access to its platform from all Utah IP addresses in response to the state’s latest anti-porn law, which goes into effect Wednesday.
SB 287 — one of several anti-porn measures promoted in Utah by the Republican Party, which controls all branches of government — is an analog measure to the religiously inspired Louisiana age verification bill which went into effect January 1.
The LDS Church — a powerful force in a state with a documented history of little separation between church, state, law, business and education — considers all pornography as a ploy by “the adversary” (aka Satan) specifically created to destroy Mormon households by tempting the male heads of the family.
Pornhub responded to the challenge presented by SB 287 by cutting off access to its content for Utah-based IP addresses, and replacing the landing page with a SFW video where Cherie DeVille explains the reasons for the content restriction.
“As you may know,” DeVille says, “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.”
Emphasizing the fact that mandating age verification without proper enforcement gives platforms the opportunity to choose whether or not to comply, De Ville continues, “as we’ve seen in other states, this just drives traffic to sites with far fewer safety measures in place. Very few sites are able to compare to the robust Trust and Safety measures we currently have in place. To protect children and user privacy, any legislation must be enforced against all platforms offering adult content.”
The safety of our users, DeVille adds, “is one of our biggest concerns. We believe that the best and most effective solution for protecting children and adults alike is to identify users by their device and allow access to age-restricted materials and websites based on that identification. Until a real solution is offered, we have made the difficult decision to completely disable access to our website in Utah.”
The video ends with a call to action with DeVille asking Utah citizens to “please contact your representatives before it is too late and demand device-based verification solutions that make the internet safer while also respecting your privacy.”
As XBIZ reported, the Mormon church has resisted any attempts to discuss scientific and evidence-care, and has staunchly promoted a “porn is Satan’s weapon” view that led to a religious obsession with “porn filters.” Utah has often been the first state to easily pass unscientific anti-porn legislation, and actively supports the ostensibly “non-religious” crusading organization Fight the New Drug.
