Springsteen boycotts are one thing, but porn site xHamster is hitting North Carolina’s legislature where it really hurts.
As of today, it appears that xHamster—one of the world’s biggest porn sites, and ranked 91st among websites in the world—is protesting North Carolinians with a special pop-up.
It was reported earlier that the site was blocking users from North Carolina altogether. Right now, it appears the site is instead serving users with an informative pop-up, protesting the state’s new law that forces transgender people to use the restrooms corresponding to their gender at birth.
Porn sites getting politically active isn’t a new idea: Pornhub and Redtube protested in favor of net neutrality back in 2014, and we ended up with a robust set of favorable FCC rulings.
XHamster’s data is funny—and a good reminder that even the most outwardly homophobic states have plenty of people who swing every which way—but I would urge xHamster to be a little more specific. The IP address block owned by the North Carolina General Assembly is freely available information, after all.
Additional reporting by Justin Westbrook