Pornhub Releases New Video Urging Action Against Anti-Porn Legislation

MONTREAL — Pornhub has released a new video featuring Cherie DeVille urging viewers to contact their representatives to weigh in on the current blitz of anti-porn legislation being proposed around the country.

The video, together with the news that MindGeek and new owners Ethical Capital Partners (ECP) have been in contact with Apple, Google and Microsoft to promote a device-based age verification alternative, were reported by CNN today.

“In the two-minute video, adult performer Cherie DeVille stares into the camera and intones soberly to viewers, for the second time in a month, that policymakers are coming for their porn,” CNN explained, adding that DeVille urged viewers to “click the button below to contact your representatives before it is too late.”

A Pornhub rep told CNN that it was not the company’s goal to shut down access the site in Arkansas, Mississippi and Virginia over confusing age verification mandates as it did in Utah, but did not rule out the option.

“If necessary, we will share next steps in the coming weeks,” the rep added.

ECP partner Solomon Friedman confirmed to CNN that the company recently has “lobbied Apple, Google and Microsoft to jointly develop a technological standard that might turn a user’s electronic device into the proof of age necessary to access restricted online content.”

As XBIZ reported in this month’s cover story on the challenges around age verification, ECP has criticized the majority of age verification requirements being proposed by anti-porn activists and politicians because they follow a site-by-site model.

“That puts the obligation on individual sites, if they are serving adult content, to independently verify the user’s age and do this in general by collecting sensitive user information,” Friedman told XBIZ. “The trouble with site-by-site verification is that it is completely ineffective at protecting children. As opposed to creating a wall around the adult side of the internet, it creates a doorway, and anyone could simply sidestep that doorway and go to another adult site that does not comply.”

ECP proposes instead device-based age verification, where a user’s age and identity credentials reside on their device, as “the only solution that can both keep minors from adult content and also protect the privacy of adults who wish to access adult content.”

“We are willing to commit whatever resources are required to work proactively with those companies, with other technical service providers and as well with government,” Friedman told CNN on Wednesday.

Click here to view the video.