BATON ROUGE, La. (WVLA) – A new law in Louisiana is aiming to protect children from online pornography by requiring age verification on adult websites.
The law went into effect Jan. 1.
In the language of Act 440, Louisiana lawmakers called pornography a public health crisis among children due to its “corroding influence” on young viewers. The act also requires publishers of pornographic content to require age verification to determine whether users are 18 or older before viewing.
Age verification can be achieved with a digital ID card or government-issued ID, or via some form of “commercially reasonable method” that uses public or private data to verify age, according to the act.
For instance, Vice confirmed this week that internet users in Louisiana were being directed to a age-verification page on Pornhub, one of the internet’s largest online streaming pornography sites. On that page, users are being instructed to verify their age via an app that contains a digital copy of their drivers’ licenses.
Pornographic websites without any type of age verification will also be at risk of a lawsuit, according to the law.
Louisiana Rep. Laurie Schlegel touted the law’s passage on Twitter earlier this week, calling it a “win” for the state’s children.
“This law had bipartisan support and passed almost unanimously in both the House & Senate with close to 50 co-authors, including Democrats and Republicans,” tweeted Rep. Schlegel Tuesday. “It was not a Republican win but a win for children in Louisiana. This bill is about protecting children not limiting adults.”
Proponents of Act 440 had said pornography contributes to hypersexualization of minors, and could affect children’s self-esteem negatively.
“Pornography may also impact brain development and functioning, contribute to emotional and medical illnesses, shape deviant sexual arousal, and lead to difficulty in forming or maintaining positive, intimate relationships, as well as promoting problematic or harmful sexual behaviors and addiction,” the law states.
Per the law, Louisianans can sue websites that feature a “substantial” amount of pornographic content (a third of the site’s overall content) if the site has no method to verify ages.
“If pornography companies refuse to be responsible, then we must hold them accountable,” Rep. Schlegel tweeted Dec. 29. “This law is a first step.”