Gay Porn Studio MenAtPlay Forced To Pull Down X-Rated Trailers Ahead Of UK Porn Block
The United Kingdom’s long-delayed (and universally panned) legislation to block internet users from viewing pornography without first having their ages verified by ID is coming soon, unfortunately, with a launch date for the plan expected next week. Via The Guardian:
The government will next week confirm the launch date for a UK-wide age block on online pornography as privacy campaigners continue to raise concerns about how websites and age verification companies will use the data they collect. The age block will require commercial pornography sites to show that they are taking sufficient steps to verify their users are over 18, such as by uploading a passport or driving licence, or by visiting a newsagent to buy a pass only available to adults. Websites which fail to comply risk substantial fines or having their websites banned by all British internet service providers.
Technical difficulties and having the means to enforce the law have delayed the plan for years, but now government officials have indicated that it will be in place within the month. Once in effect, every porn studio based in the UK will have to verify users’ ages via ID before the users can view pornographic content on their sites (which have led many people to have very real privacy concerns). This also means that UK porn studios have to remove all the hardcore content from their sites if it’s able to be viewed by non-members who haven’t verified their age. In other words, they have to pull down all the free scene trailers that aren’t behind the paywall and age verification system.
Gay porn studio MenAtPlay has already begun pulling hardcore trailers from their site that are viewable by non-members, and if you click on a scene to watch one, this message pops up:
The text in the above message reads, “In compliance with the ATVOD statutory rules, MenAtPlay will be replacing all our online non-member hardcore previews with softcore alternatives,” and it appears on scene pages where a softcore trailer has not yet been created to replace the hardcore one. They’re still showing hardcore images, but not video, as the thumbnails for the videos (before you push play) show cock and hardcore action. For example, here’s a Trenton Ducati scene where the trailer has been pulled:
The studio has, however, made several softcore replacement trailers for non-members (who haven’t verified their age), and here’s an example.
Softcore replacement trailer for Dante Colle, Logan Moore, and Massimo Piano’s three-way:
And, here was the hardcore trailer that used to be on MenAtPlay when Str8Up covered the scene last summer:
Other studios based in the UK will, presumably, have to make the same time-consuming, costly, and laborious changes on their sites. Those studios include UKNakedMen, Blake Mason, English Lads, HungYoungBrit (which has had its own legal troubles recently), and more.
Here’s another example, with the softcore replacement trailer for Dato Foland and Carter Dane’s fuckfest:
And, here was the hardcore trailer that used to be on MenAtPlay when Str8Up covered the same scene in March of 2016:
Obviously, the MenAtPlay hardcore trailers can always be viewed here since Str8UpGayPorn is not based in the UK. But, could users in the UK be blocked from viewing Str8UpGayPorn (or any porn news site)? Probably not, since blogs and social media sites aren’t covered by the law, but UK users attempting to view porn on any studio site around the world that doesn’t have an age verification system in place (e.g., Sean Cody, TimTales, BelAmi, GuysInSweatpants) will likely be blocked. More on the law when it was first proposed in 2016, via The Guardian:
Pornography websites that fail to implement stringent age verification controls could be blocked from British users after MPs forced the government to strengthen planned measures to prevent children accessing such content. The rules, to be enforced by the British Board of Film Classification, will apply to all websites regardless of where they are based.
There are loopholes, of course, giving UK users plenty of ways to still view porn. Via The Verge:
Porn sites that don’t introduce age checks will be blocked by ISPs, but the legislation doesn’t cover social media sites like Reddit and Twitter, which host adult content. Internet users in the UK will also be able to navigate the block using virtual private networks or VPNs — services that redirect internet traffic through different parts of the world.
