IG News Updates,
Anyone who has lived in Louisiana and opened Pornhub for the past three months has received a new clue. It added that state laws require people who wish to view pornography to prove they are over 18 years of age. People wishing to access Pornhub are directed to a government-affiliated site where they can provide their ID. The move is a result of new laws designed to prevent children from viewing explicit content. But this is just the beginning—the online age-verification industry is heating up.
Since January, three other states across the US—Mississippi, Virginia and Utah—have copied Louisiana’s approach, passing their own versions of age-verification laws. According to a recent analysis, 11 other states from Virginia to California have proposed laws that would require users to verify their age before viewing pornography. Some of these rules are set to take effect in the coming months.
It’s not just an American phenomenon either. Across the Western world, efforts are underway to introduce more age checks online. Since 2020, regulators in Germany and France have pushed porn sites to check people’s ages and the UK and Australia are developing their own laws. These follow the introduction of more stringent safety rules that protect children online.
The Internet is not a kid-friendly place. However, introducing age verification across the web is technical and complex. (In 2019, the UK abandoned a multi-year plan to introduce age checks after facing myriad problems). The porn we watch is also highly sensitive—stories are incredibly personal, and leaking data online can be devastating. Privacy advocates, porn companies and some regulators say the move to introduce age verification presents significant problems.
“The concerns about young people accessing adult websites are real and widespread; “Understanding of the limitations of various age-verification tools and the new threats they pose is less comprehensive,” says Irina Raiku, director of the Internet Ethics Program at Santa Clara University’s Markkula Center. “Many regulators and others feel that age verification is a solved problem; Technologists and privacy activists, including activists focused on protecting children, are trying to explain that it is not.”
For years, the only thing stopping people from viewing porn online has been little checkboxes: Are you over 18? yes or no However, the proposed worldwide legislation would add more robust checks. Dozens of online age-verification companies have sprung up, each with several ways to prove you’re old enough to access sites.