Some U.S. pornographic sites are being forced to introduce tighter restrictions to curb underage viewing.
The State of Louisiana is following in approach to the UK’s Online Safety Bill by legislating that porn sites must implement age verification processes to prioritise online safety for under 18s.
One of the most well-known porn websites, Pornhub, is now redirecting visitors from Louisiana to an age verification process before they can proceed onto the site.
Most sites will be able to sync with a mobile app called LA Wallet where users can upload a form of physical ID – a digitalised driving licence or a state recognised identity card – to prove their age.
The changes to the law, supported by popular culture singer, Billie Eilish, mean websites can be sued if they do not comply and hold total accountability for providing the content over young people who may access porn sites within the current laws.
The UK’s Online Safety Bill was one step ahead in cultivating a safer online environment for children and legislating age verification checks, however the bill is not inclusive of all forms of advertisements that can target children based on exploited personal data and algorithms.
Failing to act in accordance with the Online Safety Bill would result in fines up to 10% of a company’s annual worldwide turnover by the independent regulator Ofcom.
The Louisiana Age Verification Law is a welcome arrival in 2023 which takes action against the universal accessibility of the internet along with the harms of third-party sharing of personal data.
The law states strict guidelines over personal data privacy; any website “shall not retain any identifying information of the individual after access has been granted to the material”.
Only just last month, Republican US senator Mike Lee, from Utah advocated for another law to be passed mandating age verification checks across the whole of the U.S however this was hampered in part due to the belief in American constitutional rights to freedom of speech, hence lending different states to take varying degrees of action on this problem.
The legislation states: “Pornography contributes to the hyper-sexualization of teens and prepubescent children and may lead to low self-esteem, body image disorders, an increase in problematic sexual activity at younger ages, and increased desire among adolescents to engage in risky sexual behavior.”
“No internet service provider, or its affiliates or subsidiaries, search 2 engine, or cloud service provider shall be held to have violated the provisions of this law”.
Canada’s online streaming bill (C-11) was also amended to require age verification to access porn and received criticism for violating the constitution.
This story was originally published by the BBC. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-64153375
