Porn Sites Must Block VPNs To Comply With Indiana's Age-Verification Law

Indiana Attorney General Todd Rokita is suing dozens of porn websites, claiming that they are in violation of the state's age-verification law and seeking "injunctive relief, civil penalties, and recovery of costs incurred to investigate and maintain the action." Last year, Indiana Senate Bill 17 mandated that websites featuring "material harmful to minors" must verify that visitors are age 18 or above.

The Dispute Over Location-Based Blocks

Rather than start checking IDs, Aylo—the parent company of Pornhub and an array of other adult websites—responded by blocking access for Indiana residents. However, now, Indiana says this is not good enough. To successfully comply, Pornhub and other Aylo platforms (which include Brazzers, Youporn, and Redtube, among others) must also block virtual private networks and other tools that allow internet users to mask their IP addresses, the state suggests.

The state argues that because some Indiana residents could use tools to get around location-based blocks, location-based blocks "are insufficient to comply with Indiana's Age Verification Law." In a section of the suit detailing how Aylo allegedly violated the age-check law, Indiana notes that last July, "an investigator employed by the Office of the Indiana Attorney General ('OAG Investigator') accessed Pornhub.com from Indiana using a Virtual Private Network (VPN) with a Chicago, Illinois IP address."

Broad Anti-Privacy Logic and Implications

This is an insane—and frighteningly dystopian—interpretation of the law. The logical conclusion from this is that if a porn platform doesn't want to check IDs or to stop existing, it must then stop anyone from using a VPN. Increasingly, states are trying to require social media platforms, app stores, and other web services to verify users' ages. Indiana's logic could be used to justify sanctioning all sorts of apps and services for failing to block VPNs and other anonymity-aiding tools.

Sure, you might prevent a few more teens from seeing boobs or watching TikTok videos, but at the cost of massively impeding privacy for people of all ages. Furthermore, VPNs are also used by people whose employers require them in order to access work email and websites, college students and faculty who may need them to access school websites, and others.

Legal Criticism and Targeted Platforms

David Greene of the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) called this "quite ridiculous." He noted that the lawsuit "essentially bases liability on the failure to accomplish impossibilities." The Rokita lawsuit accuses Aylo and its affiliate companies of violating not just the Indiana age-verification law (Senate Bill 17) but also its Deceptive Consumer Sales Act.

The following table lists the primary adult websites mentioned in the state's investigation:

Website Name	Ownership / Context
Pornhub.com	Aylo platform
Brazzers.com	Aylo platform
Youporn.com	Aylo platform
Redtube.com	Aylo platform
Faketaxi.com	Adult website accessed using VPN
Spicevids.com	Adult website accessed using VPN

Indiana's legal strategy suggests that "Defendants have not implemented any reasonable form of age verification on its website Pornhub.com," despite the implementation of regional geoblocking.