Why did Pornhub disabled its site in Texas?

In mid-March, Pornhub took the step of blocking its service in Texas following a lawsuit filed by Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton.

The legal dispute dates back to 2023 when the adult entertainment website filed a lawsuit against Paxton in an attempt to halt the enforcement of House Bill 1181. This legislation mandates that websites hosting explicit content must display health advisories on their pages and implement age-verification measures for user access.

State Representative Matt Shaheen, the author of HB 1181, emphasized the bill’s aim to prevent young children from accessing inappropriate material online.

According to Assistant Professor Pengfei Zhang from the University of Texas at Dallas, typical age-verification procedures involve obtaining “informed consent” from users, where they disclose their age before gaining access to explicit content. However, Zhang noted that legislators in Texas appear dissatisfied with this approach.

Critics argue that the Texas law, along with measures like disabling websites, may infringe upon First Amendment rights and raise concerns about obscenity standards.

Tom Leatherbury, the director of the First Amendment Clinic at SMU Deadman School of Law, highlighted the distinction between obscenity and pornography, emphasizing that not all forms of pornography are considered obscene.