Senator James Lankford has accused the adult website Pornhub of "preying on children" in a strongly worded letter responding to the company's campaign against state age-verification laws. The Oklahoma Republican argued that the website's opposition to such regulations demonstrates a greater concern for protecting its user base than for shielding minors from explicit content.
Lankford’s letter, addressed to Solomon Friedman, vice president of compliance for Ethical Capital Partners (ECP), the private equity firm that acquired Pornhub's parent company Aylo, directly rebuked a July 28 message from Pornhub to state lawmakers. In that message, the site criticized age-verification requirements, such as those enacted in Florida and at least 24 other states.
Pornhub’s letter stated that these laws, despite their intention to protect minors, actually put individuals at greater risk of online harm. Lankford countered this by asserting that lawmakers can and should hold tech companies accountable for the harm they pose to children, and that platforms like Pornhub should not be exempt from such accountability.
"Pornhub’s letter fails to say the quiet part out loud: Pornhub would lose customers if children were prohibited from viewing its content," Lankford wrote. He also noted that the company "exposes them to horrific sexual content and does nothing to ensure that children are not sexually abused in the content it hosts."
Citing research from the American Psychological Association, which indicates the average age of first exposure to pornography for boys is 13.37 years, with some reporting exposure as early as age five, Lankford defended age-verification laws as a crucial step in reducing minors' access to explicit material. He dismissed Pornhub's privacy concerns as overstated, pointing out that many state laws mandate the deletion of personal information immediately after age verification is completed.
Lankford highlighted the Supreme Court's affirmation of age-verification laws in Free Speech Coalition v. Paxton, which concluded that such laws do not impose an undue burden on adults and that states have a fundamental duty to protect minors from pornography. He concluded that parents face a significant challenge in protecting their children online, and age verification is a simple measure platforms can take to help preserve childhood innocence, especially for sites hosting explicit content.
"Pornhub should be ashamed of its letter to state lawmakers and ashamed that they do nothing to protect children," Lankford stated. Fox News Digital has reached out to Friedman and Pornhub for comment.