Louisiana residents now have to show porn sites a government ID before accessing them under a new law requiring age verification that went into effect with the new year.
The law, called Act 440, requires sites to implement “reasonable age verification methods” if a “substantial portion” of their material is “harmful to minors,” VICE reported.
“Material harmful to minors” includes depictions of genitals and sexual acts, or anything that indulges “the prurient interest.” A “substantial portion” of that material is defined as “more than thirty-three and one-third percent” of a site’s total content.
[READ MORE: Child porn shared in private TikTok accounts: Forbes]
The age verification methods allowed under the law include accessing IDs through state-approved apps and “any commercially reasonable method that relies on public or private transactional data.”
Websites caught in violation of this law will “be liable to an individual for damages resulting from a minor’s accessing the material.” Sites will also be liable if they “retain any identifying information” after users are allowed in.
VICE reported on Tuesday that Pornhub.com was directing Louisiana-based users to a third-party identity verification site called AllPassTrust, which links to Louisiana’s digital driver’s license system, LA Wallet. Other popular porn sites – like OnlyFans, XVideos and XHamster – were not yet asking for ID.
The bill was introduced by State Rep. Laurie Schegel, who is also a sex addiction counselor, according to local news outlet WAFB. Her comment that “pornography is destroying our children” is reflected in the text of the law, which states porn can lead children to mental health issues, “deviant sexual arousal,” and difficulty “maintaining positive, intimate relationships.”
Germany enacted an age verification law for porn sites in 2021, similar laws have been debated for years in Australia and the United Kingdom.
A bill to impose age verification nationally was introduced in December by Sen. Mike Lee (R-UT), as well as a bill that Gizmodo reported was capable of toppling the porn industry by redefining obscene content. But neither bill went anywhere before the 117th Congress ended its term.
