The folks who are interested in content like this will still search it out, but now they're more likely to end up on shadier sites instead. Pornhub (Aylo), as porn sites go, is legitimate and goes out of their way to remove problem content and follow laws and regulations. They are also based in Canada. I'm sure there are other sites that are much worse that will fill this vacuum.
The only thing PH doesn't seem keen on is compromising their users' privacy and serving as age-enforcer.
So this legislation seems to make things worse, not better. Sure, you can always say "well PH could just comply with the age-verification laws," but I applaud them for taking a stand on privacy, and also them saying "fine, if you don't like us here we'll leave." It's really a loss for exactly the states that are passing these laws. They'll just end up with people going to shadier sites.
What worries me most though, is that this will lead to people using VPNs more (which is fine), but then states making VPNs themselves illegal (they'll use terms like "tools to circumvent...") which is super bad.
The only thing PH doesn't seem keen on is compromising their users' privacy and serving as age-enforcer.
So this legislation seems to make things worse, not better. Sure, you can always say "well PH could just comply with the age-verification laws," but I applaud them for taking a stand on privacy, and also them saying "fine, if you don't like us here we'll leave." It's really a loss for exactly the states that are passing these laws. They'll just end up with people going to shadier sites.
What worries me most though, is that this will lead to people using VPNs more (which is fine), but then states making VPNs themselves illegal (they'll use terms like "tools to circumvent...") which is super bad.