As a result of PornHub's sex trafficking allegations, Texas
Attorney General Ken Paxton launched a lawsuit against Aylo, Pornhub’s parent
company, for failing to fall in line with age-verification mandates.
Since Aylo also owns Brazzers, Reality Kings and YouPorn,
these sites have also followed suit and blocked access. Paxton also announced
he’s suing the owners of Chaturbate and Xhamster for not following this law.
Local creators of adult content have had trouble accessing
their Pornhub pages. This has thoroughly disrupted their regular routine of
uploading content.
“I did message support,” said Jayla [pictured right],
one-half of the Houston-based duo That CoupleJX. For the past five years, Jayla
and her husband Xavier have usually posted recorded livestreams of their
Chaturbate shows on Pornhub.
“I was like, ‘Hey, I’m a content creator. I can’t access my
account.’ They messaged me back saying that they’re just overloaded with a
whole bunch of people reaching out. They want me to send a picture of myself
holding up a sign with our username, the date and Pornhub, just to verify it’s
me.”
While they’ve obviously gotten complaints from fans, who’ve
most likely been turning to virtual private networks (according to reports, VPN
searches in Texas have skyrocketed 400 percent) to get their secure porn fix,
Xavier and Jayla do feel something has to be done to keep minors away from
adult content online.
“We were actually talking about that, like how do we feel about
it,” Xavier said. “And, honestly, it’s a change and nobody likes change,
because it’s an extra requirement that you’re gonna have to go through. But if
it’s gonna save some children, why not just go through the extra steps to use
it?”
Xavier also understands that most people might not like
their personal data out there. “I think a lot of people are scared about who’s
gonna find out and who’s watching what,” he said. “I could see the hassle in
people not wanting to do it. But, if it’s something that our state’s
requiring—this is where you live—then you have to deal with it.”
“If they’re trying to censor that for minors, I think that’s
OK,” Jayla added. “I don’t think that children should be watching porn, or have
such easy access to it.”
It isn’t just indie, online sex workers who feel this way.
Houston-based veteran adult film star Ava Addams [pictured, left] would also
like to see some changes made. “I think it’s crazy that I can’t access my model
profile, but I do think more age verification needs to be done across the board
on the Internet, even on social media,” Addams said. “The anti-age verification
side keeps saying it’s a parent issue and parents should block things on their
kids’ phones."
But Addams also notes that some minors have found ways
around parental blocks.
With more and more states passing age verification programs,
it appears that both creators and fans of adult content may have to step up and
show they’re legit. Xavier says they've had to do it for years.
“We have to get verified constantly,” Xavier said. “We’re
constantly verifying ourselves for all these sites that we have to get on,
right? It’s not that difficult. For people who don’t want to do it, I guess
don’t watch it.”
0 Comments