This new law went into place on January 1 in the state. The law states that residents of Louisiana must submit an online copy of their government ID to access any website that is 33% or more pornographic material. Louisiana is the first state ever to enact this type of law. Some states have passed similar laws, but Louisiana is the first to do it entirely like this.
Republican state Rep. Laurie Schlegel stated the following about the new law that is starting to take effect:
“Pornography is destroying our children, and they’re getting an unlimited access to it on the internet, and so if the pornography companies aren’t going to be responsible, I thought we need to go ahead and hold them accountable,”
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January 06, 2023
The Washington Examiner states that some users indicated that they were prompted to enter information about their government ID when attempting to access certain pornographic websites in Louisiana. The software used to verify the age of those who access these sites in Louisiana claims not to store any information uploaded onto it. Still, some people are skeptical. Some are concerned that their government ID might be linked to particular websites and search habits that they might be embarrassed to have floating around.
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Some lawmakers are considering similar restrictions at the federal level. Senator Mike Lee of Utah is suggesting that it is something that the federal government should look at doing as well.
January 06, 2023
California Gov. Gavin Newsom also signed a bill in September that will require age verification for specific social media platforms. Big Tech did not appreciate this piece of legislation, and he stated it violated the constitution and was overly invasive.
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Regulators in the United Kingdom are also trying to get age verification regarding the pornographic websites that people in the country might want to access. Thus, it is clear that there are age verification pushes for pornographic websites in several different countries and among other jurisdictions. It is something that some in the United States might have seen as impossible to envision coming to our shores in the past, but that is just not going to be the case moving forward.