Users of erotic web content in certain US states are facing restrictions as market leader Mindgeek has blocked access from those regions. The reason behind this is the legal requirement for user age verification. Mindgeek, a Canadian company, owns popular brands such as Youporn, Pornhub, and Redtube. The blocking has a significant impact on men, as only about a third of access comes from women. Mindgeek has always prohibited access for young people, although their age limit is higher than that of Facebook operator Meta.
Utah, a Republican-governed state, passed a law that holds providers of erotic content liable if underage users pass age verification. In response, Mindgeek blocked users from Utah. Mindgeek believes that age verification on end devices would be the most sensible solution. They argue that legal guardians can set up free filters to prevent access by underage users. However, implementing such verification in every US state comes with challenges, especially since tens of millions of US residents do not have official IDs, mainly among low-income earners.
At the beginning of this month, Mississippi and Virginia also passed these laws, and Mindgeek immediately blocked access from these states to comply with the regulations. Unfortunately, this has led users to switch to other websites that do not comply with the law or effectively monitor their content. Similar laws have been passed or are in the legislative process in other conservative US states such as Arkansas, Texas, Montana, and Arizona.
Furthermore, regulators in Germany, France, and Great Britain are working on implementing stricter age verification systems, not only for erotic content but also for social networks like Facebook and Instagram. However, an investigation by the French data protection authority revealed that none of the age verification systems currently available are compatible with data protection regulations. Critics, such as the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF), argue that mandatory age verification and identity verification compromise privacy and are not an effective means of protecting young people online.
According to Mindgeek’s website, they serve over 115 million visitors a day with more than three billion ads. The company employs over 1,000 people across six locations.
