Pornhub has disabled its site in Texas to object to a state law that requires the company to verify the age of users to prevent minors from accessing the site.

Texas residents who visit the site are met with a message from the company that criticizes the state’s elected officials who are requiring them to track the age of users.

The company said the newly passed law impinges on “the rights of adults to access protected speech” and fails to pass strict scrutiny by “employing the least effective and yet also most restrictive means of accomplishing Texas’s stated purpose of allegedly protecting minors.”

    • ExcursionInversion@lemmy.world
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      8 months ago

      They want to ban it nationwide

      Pornography, manifested today in the omnipresent propagation of transgender ideology and sexualization of children, for instance, is not a political Gordian knot inextricably binding up disparate claims about free speech, property rights, sexual liberation, and child welfare. It has no claim to First Amendment protection. Its purveyors are child predators and misogynistic exploiters of women. Their product is as addictive as any illicit drug and as psychologically destructive as any crime. Pornography should be outlawed. The people who produce and distribute it should be imprisoned. Educators and public librarians who purvey it should be classed as registered sex offenders. And telecommunications and technology firms that facilitate its spread should be shuttered

      -A Promise to America", Mandate for Leadership: The Conservative Promise, p. 5, Project 2025

    • Billiam@lemmy.world
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      Remember, one of the defining traits of right-wing political movements is the redefining of words. When a Conservative says “small government” what they really mean is “a government that can enforce our morals and values, but is incapable of enforcing rights, regulations, or equality.”

  • Fapper_McFapper@lemmy.world
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    8 months ago

    I sure hope all porn sites follow Porn Hub’s lead. Just block Texas from viewing porn. Then I hope all broadband and cable TV operators follow suit as well, can’t have transexual cock on VOD or PPV. Let’s see how quickly Texas falls back in line. It won’t happen, but I can dream.

    • unalivejoy@lemm.ee
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      8 months ago

      I’m in North Carolina and the porn has been blocked since New Year’s. The hentai websites are the only ones I have access to. (E621 is also blocked).

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        It’s not a NC thing, so I have to ask:

        Are you at work or some common access?

        Do you have a shared access at home, like parent/roommates/apartment/school?

        Some other parental type control in force?

        ISPs don’t care what you look at, they only get involved with copyright stuff because someone is hassling them to do something about it. Someone has filters at the local point to keep you from getting to places. VPN could help get past, depending on how the filters work. Interestingly I’ve gotten out with a VPN before when my ISP had my direct connection in suspension.

        • draughtcyclist@lemmy.world
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          It’s not blocked at layer 4 or anything. The website simply geolocates you and denies application access for users geolocated to NC. VPN gets around it fine.

          The bigger issue is that plenty of other sites still allow access… So it’s effectively punishing the rule followers.

      • Dizzy Devil Ducky@lemm.ee
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        How Dare They Block E621! Now I have to become an armchair warrior and get mad over something that doesn’t affect me in the slightest because I still have access! All while doing nothing about it!

        In all honesty, fuck these types of people for blocking sites that try to a degree to try and stop illegal porn on their platforms.

    • MegaUltraChicken@lemmy.world
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      8 months ago

      TIL there are people still paying for PPV porn on cable after we invented an entire worldwide network of porn you can access for free.

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    8 months ago

    I’m a woman in Texas and if this has anything positive to come out of it, I hope a lot of the men here who don’t care about women’s reproductive rights will finally wake up to the Christian Nationalism really taking hold here, realize it may impact them, and help to do something about it.

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    8 months ago

    At least this’ll probably push more people to hate Republicans. Like, fucking with a man’s porn supply is just political suicide. At least I hope it is.

    • geekworking@lemmy.world
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      Don’t worry they’ll find a way to blame Biden.

      Anything is possible when logic, facts, and reality don’t matter.

    • Asafum@feddit.nl
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      They should have also added a bit about big government intrusion into their personal privacy rights. They have to speak the conservative language to conservatives to really get them riled up.

  • Got_Bent@lemmy.world
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    Just tried it. Yep, no access. Just a long message lambasting Texas politicians.

    I tried all the other regular sites, no issues.

    They’re gonna need an industry wide cooperation to successfully combat this.

    • AquaTofana@lemmy.world
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      I tried it, got the block message, and then tried it with a Kansas City VPN just to see if it would work. It did.

      I really liked the message though. Texas legislators are dumb af if they don’t think that this is going to push people to use websites without ID requirements and less stringent rules on content creation/safety.

      I mean, they were dumb af before this, but they’re extra dumb now too.

        • jaybone@lemmy.world
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          I wonder if they do it by ISP.

          I always wonder how they do these types of blocks. Sure you can get a city from an IP record, mine reports me as several counties away.

      • ipkpjersi@lemmy.ml
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        The thing is, there’s hundreds, thousands, possibly millions of porn sites out there. There is no way any state is going to be able to block them all. Even if, by some miracle, they did manage to block them all - it won’t matter, people will still just use a VPN anyway.

    • TexasDrunk@lemmy.world
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      I turned off my VPN and same. I talked to a buddy and found out they’re doing it in NC and Virginia too.

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      Same lol. Pretty interesting read - Phub advocates for age verification on the device level rather than an individual website level.

  • Lucidlethargy@sh.itjust.works
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    Texas loves to use words like “freedom” and “liberty”, and make them synonomus with their values. Then they pass legislation to force women to give birth, and they ban porn.

    Like… “y’all” really are fucking stupid down there (at least the conservatives.)

    • homura1650@lemm.ee
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      Interestingly, according to the article, the biggest effect is in 15-19 year olds; which are the people the law is intended to bar from accessing porn. Granted, I have no idea how good the underlying study that article is based off of is.

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        The ones that most definetely know how to use a vpn…

        It’s gonna be the boomer politicians that are big mad and can’t figure out a work around.

        • aidan@lemmy.world
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          The ones that most definetely know how to use a vpn…

          There are plenty of 15-19 year olds who are good with computers, but also plenty who aren’t

          • Jakeroxs@sh.itjust.works
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            The goal post for what “being good at computers” has moved quite a bit, stuff that was distinctly only known to the nerds and geeks is now common knowledge to the younger generations, just from what I’ve seen of my younger relatives compared to my geekyness growing up lol.

              • Jakeroxs@sh.itjust.works
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                VPNs was a good one, I have definitely heard from my younger siblings/cousins they’re familiar or use them at school.

                I remember being a select few at my school who knew how to use proxies to get to game sites on school PCS, I even made a little free hosted website for linking to proxies/unblocked game sites for my friends. (that eventually got blocked too, funny enough certain link shortners still worked for a bit since they seemingly blocked by Url)

                I’ll try to think of other examples, just something I had noticed talking to younger family members.

                I think it’s moreso just that it’s easier to do then it used to be.

    • Makhno@lemmy.world
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      If porn is the only thing stopping someone from raping another person, then their problems are a whole lot deeper than porn

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        So? If porn is the only thing that stopped me from getting raped, then my problem is solved. I’d call that a win.

      • afraid_of_zombies@lemmy.world
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        While true it still is stopping them. I don’t really care that much of a person is intrinsically a good person or not I care what their action’s are.

        Question: what do you call someone capable of the act of rape that has never raped anyone? Answer: normal.

      • laughterlaughter@lemmy.world
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        I agree with you. However, that’s oversimplifying the matter. I don’t think every case in which “porn helped prevent a rape” has porn as the one and only reason.

      • Bremmy@lemmy.ml
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        Religion can sometimes prevent mass murderers, so you’re absolutely right

          • Bremmy@lemmy.ml
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            I’m full on anti-religion, but some crazies have said the fear of eternal damnation is the only reason they don’t go out murdering

            • afraid_of_zombies@lemmy.world
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              I have my doubts about how accurate their assessment is. I said things like that when I was a theist and turns out I am still pretty boring even without the fear of hell. However, on the off chance I am wrong and quite literally the only thing keeping someone from being a murderer is the fear of hell well they should probably still believe in hell.

              This is what the narcissist does to you. They convince you that you are nothing and even less than nothing without them. Religion teaches people that they are worthless and can only be saved from their deserved fate by absolute obedience.

    • fne8w2ah@lemmy.world
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      8 months ago

      Showing once again the disconnect between lawmakers and the public they are meant to serve.

  • bamboo@lemm.ee
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    All blocking porn in the states will do is push users to sites hosted in the EU/Russia/Brazil/etc. Probably with even fewer safety checks or regulations.

    • A_Very_Big_Fan@lemmy.world
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      Came here to say this too. All they’re doing is pushing the users of those sites to less reputable sites

      I know how I was as a kid, and I sure as shit wouldn’t have stopped because my state said “no”

    • PM_Your_Nudes_Please@lemmy.world
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      I can almost guarantee that the EU would have better regulations. Given that the US doesn’t even have anything akin to GDPR. If you’re in the EU and get a “sorry we can’t let you use our site because of GDPR” warning, you should consider it a blessing in disguise. Because it means the US users are getting their data harvested and sold without their knowledge or consent, and the GDPR prevents that.

    • stoly@lemmy.world
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      You may overestimate how technical the average person is. Think of the sort that would never bother with Lemmy.

      • bamboo@lemm.ee
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        I think this is one most people would figure out in time. After getting blocked on their go-to website, they’ll google or bing or whatever videos, and eventually find some that aren’t blocked and bookmark them.

  • Flying Squid@lemmy.world
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    Texans will have to get their porn the old fashioned way now- finding an old magazine in the woods.

    • spyd3r@sh.itjust.works
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      Prior to the internet that was the best way to get it.

      I can’t imagine what the older generations were doing out there with stacks of Playboys, but I’m sure glad they didn’t care about leaving them out there for us to find.

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      For real? That’s how we got ours too! (I’m exactly stranger things age.) Who was leaving all the porn in the woods?!?! Why? Why are anthropologists not dropping everything to figure this out?

    • Sightline@lemmy.ml
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      Texan prepper here. I’ve downloaded ~2000 videos from PH over the years just in case.

  • werefreeatlast@lemmy.world
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    8 months ago

    Hey Texas dudes! Jesus make u mad? Christ took your Christina? No problem!

    From the makers of the famous amous Chinese finger trap, here come the Cocklopper2000!

    Just place the mildly used or completely unused cock into the cock hole and press the button 🔘!

    No more useless cock hanging out like extra skin to toast in the hot Texan sun! The aerodynamics are fantastic!

    The Cocklopper2000 comes in with different levels of blade sharpness and motor speeds! From the gentle lop and clop of the brushed 1/2hp DC motor and stainless 304 blades to the neodymium 0 cog out runner brushless motor of the XL model with upgraded boron carbide blades. While the lower cost model is gentle enough to only need mild sedation, the XL model does it so quick and painless you’d swear it’s still attached!

    All models come with 1 year paid google drive with 3 email addresses! And free disposal cooler box with free postage paid for automatic shipping to the cock store! Your only only source of cocks! Your donation goes directly to benefit trans woman and transgender female to male persons!