Pornhub could be blocked in Canada. What’s the bill behind the controversy?

A controversial bill proposing that porn sites should have an age verification requirement is coming up for study from the House of Commons amid concerns about its effectiveness in protecting minors and other privacy concerns.

The owners of Pornhub, one of the largest porn sites on the internet, have opposed the bill, calling it the “wrong legislation,” and say they’re considering blocking access to Canadians.

Bill S-210, An Act to restrict young persons’ online access to sexually explicit material, is a Senate bill currently making its way in reverse through the parliamentary process. That means it started in the Senate, passed that chamber in April 2023 and is now in the House of Commons for consideration.

It passed second reading in the House of Commons in December 2023 and is set to be studied by the standing committee of public safety and national security this spring.

It was brought forward by Independent Sen. Julie Miville-Dechêne in 2021.

“This is the bill that I’ve been defending for three years, which is, in essence, modest because what it says is that distributing porn is an infraction when it’s distributed to kids and organizations have to take precautions and have to do age verification,” she told Global News in an interview Tuesday.

“I believe that it’s the wise thing to do now because it can affect generations of children.”

Miville-Dechêne said it’s “inconceivable” that a company like Pornhub “would choose to exit a market instead of doing age verification to protect children.”

Bill S-210 calls for websites offering pornographic content to verify the age of the users before they can access adult content or face fines of up to $250,000 per violation. This is to try to restrict users under the age of 18 years from