Question

17 US states are now banning porn. Thanks, Big Conservative Government!

Answer 1

This is a misleading claim. 19 states have passed laws mandating porn websites to verify user ages, with Tennessee being the only state to block it taking effect. This started in January 2023 with Louisiana so it's not happening just "now" as the claim states. While a byproduct of these laws is that large porn sites like Pornhub have decided to stop user access in these states, it is not a direct ban on porn as the claim states.

This is corroborated by 3 separate news organizations: https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/pornhub-blocked-us-states-age-verification-b2679211.html, https://www.cnn.com/2025/01/11/politics/invs-porn-age-verification-laws-supreme-court/index.html, and https://www.keranews.org/news/2025-01-15/supreme-court-weighs-first-amendment-rights-and-porn-in-texas-case. 

CNN finds that: "Over the last two and a half years, 19 states – home to more than a third of Americans – have passed laws that require pornography websites to confirm a user’s age by checking a government-issued ID or scanning their face, among other methods."

The Independent finds that: "all those states have passed laws requiring porn websites to verify that their users are over-18, such as by checking their driver’s licenses, or else be vulnerable to civil lawsuits."

KeraNews finds that: "A slew of other state have adopted laws mandating age-verification for porn sites, after Louisiana became the first state to pass such a law in January 2023."

Comments

This is a great fact check- I really appreciated how you provided quotes from reputable news sources to corroborate your claims. This fact check helps me understand that this alleged 'ban' is instead a byproduct of laws that have been created over the course of a long period of time instead of a sudden, total ban like the claim seems to suggest.

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Excellent Fact check, thank you for putting in quotes from the sources and including the important dates. Claims and checks like this are important to see because it shows the importance to know the difference between all-out bans on things, and just stricter regulations/rules

Answer 2

The claim that 17 US states are now banning porn is a misleading statement. Over the last 2 1/2 years several states have been pushing new laws that require users to verify their age using a real Government-issued ID. This has caused people to log in to their accounts to find they've been blocked, not banned, but they can no longer access their accounts depending on which state they are in. Even though they aren't able to access their preferred website, porn as a whole wasn't banned however, certain websites will no longer be accessible to people in specific states.

https://www.cnn.com/2025/01/11/politics/invs-porn-age-verification-laws-supreme-court/index.html

Comments

For this fact check, I think it is important to go one step further than a CNN article. Organizations such as CNN can be biased, and not as reputable as other sources. I would suggest finding where CNN is getting these claims from, and then seeing if those sources are reputable!

Answer 3

While it is true that many states are implementing new laws and policies that restrict access to some pornography websites, the claim that 17 states are "now" banning the entirety of pornographic material is very misleading. The laws implemented are in an effort to provide more age verification methods in order to keep minors off of inappropriate websites, not to completely block access to anyone's viewing. According to CNN, these laws have also been in place for the last 2 and a half years, so to claim that this is a new modern development is simply false.

What this user may be referring to, however, is how many adult websites are blocking their sites in the states with these laws to avoid paying for ID-checking services. This decision may have led to the original poster's claim that states are "banning" porn, when in reality, many of the porn sites are banning it themselves.

Source: https://www.cnn.com/2025/01/11/politics/invs-porn-age-verification-laws-supreme-court/index.html