It’s the first week of 2023. This week can mean a lot to different people, whether it’s revisiting a long-held New Year’s resolution or making plans to reach your goals this year.
For Louisiana residents, it also means having to verify your age when accessing porn online.
On January 1, a new state law (PDF, courtesy of Motherboard) took effect that requires users to prove they are over the age of 18 for websites that contain a “substantial portion” of “material harmful to minors.”
Under the new law, a “substantial part” is defined as 33.3% or more of a website’s content. As Gizmodo points out, Pornhub, Youporn and Redtube already require visitors to verify their age.
Websites that host content that could be considered pornographic must implement “reasonable age verification methods,” such as requiring users to present government-issued or digitized IDs.
Pornhub, Youporn and Redtube have opted to require visitors to prove their age using the LA Wallet app, a digital wallet app for driver’s licenses.
A video posted to Twitter shows how Pornhub uses the app to check a user’s age.
Advances in technology, the spread of the Internet, restrictions on age verification, etc., have allowed minors to come into contact with pornography at a younger age.
Pornography contributes to hypersexuality in adolescents, which can lead to low self-esteem, impaired body image, increased problematic sexual behavior among young people, and increased desire for risky sexual behavior during adolescence.
Pornography also affects the development and function of the brain, causes emotional and medical illnesses, creates deviant sexual arousal, makes it difficult to form and maintain good intimate relationships, and causes problems.
It can promote behavioral, harmful sexual behaviors and addiction.”
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