Share

FRANKFORT, Ky. — Aylo has blocked access to Pornhub in Kentucky on Wednesday, five days before the state’s version of the age verification laws promoted by religious conservatives is scheduled to go into effect.

As XBIZ reported, Kentucky is a special case because, just as its stand-alone age verification laws — House Bill 241 from Rep. Shane Baker and Senate Bill 276 from Sen. Lindsey Tichenor — were expected to fail to gain approval, veteran Religious Right Republican Gex Williams used his influence to attach the age verification language to an unrelated bill before recess.

As it had already done in Texas, Arkansas, Mississippi, Montana, North Carolina, Virginia and Utah, Aylo replaced its landing page for Kentucky IP  addresses with an SFW video in which Cherie DeVille explains the reasons for the content restriction.

“As you may know, your elected officials have required us to verify your age before allowing you access to our website,” DeVille tells Kentucky users. “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.”

Several Republican legislators and politicians across the country — including Kentucky’s Williams — have explicitly said that the intended goal of their age verification bills was to block access to Pornhub specifically, and have celebrated that outcome.