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The Internet is evolving from an age of lust to an age of protection. A sudden rush of age verification laws aimed at preventing children from accessing explicit content is about to change the way millions of people use websites.
Online pornography is ubiquitous, even if the old joke that everything on the Internet is porn is not entirely true. Adult websites are not in the top 10 most visited sites. But they do take up slots 11, 13 and 14. Their popularity is said to have driven widespread adoption of everything from faster broadband to video streaming.
Adult content is known to drive traffic to social media platforms as well. When Tumblr banned pornography in 2018, its popularity dropped.
You could argue that licentious websites fulfill the original dream of techno-utopians: that the Internet should be a place of total freedom, without surveillance or censorship. Of course, it’s easier to be idealistic if you don’t pay attention to what the sites contain, or who is viewing them.
Surveys show that young people accessing pornography is very common. Recent research by the Children’s Commissioner for England found that one in ten nine-year-olds have seen pornographic content. A study by the French regulator Arcom showed that a fifth of ten-year-old boys looked at explicit websites at least once a month. For some, these artificial and extreme videos are their first introduction to sexual relationships with adults.
The proposed solution is a barrier that would force users to show ID proving they are adults, just as they would when purchasing alcohol. Such measures are already in place in some places.
This year, anyone trying to open a pornographic website in Louisiana was immediately directed to an age verification system. Arkansas, Montana, Mississippi, Virginia, Utah and other states are all taking similar steps.
There is plenty to criticize about these decisions. Why is 18 the limit when the minimum age for marriage in many states is 16? How can sites ensure user ID security? But a broad effort to find ways to prevent children from seeing explicit or harmful online content is moving forward.
Britain’s sweeping, long-delayed online safety bill is expected to become law in the coming weeks, forcing porn sites to add age verification. For a long time, the British rules were stuck in the era of top-shelf magazines and DVDs – focused on selling films and showing ‘indecent matter’. Attempts to bring laws up to date stalled.
In 2019, the government wanted to introduce a new law that would make it illegal for pornographic material sold online to be accessed by young people under the age of 18. But that plan was postponed and then abandoned. Now it has been brought back to life.
The difficulty of choosing an effective and secure way to verify age without compromising privacy continues to be raised as an objection, as does the possibility of virtual private networks, or VPNs, being used to circumvent age limits.
Australia discovered this last month when it decided to abandon its plans to force pornography websites to introduce age verification. Instead, the task of better protecting children has been left to parents. A new education platform is being created that teaches guardians how to install software that restricts children’s access to certain sites. However, it seems unlikely that this will remain the only limitation.
Unsurprisingly, the loudest voices against age verification include adult website owners and privacy activists. San Francisco-based digital nonprofit Electronic Frontier Foundation has dubbed the tools “surveillance systems.” Aylo, the owner of adult entertainment sites including Pornhub and Brazzers, says it supports age verification but has criticized its implementation.
“Pornhub was one of the few sites that complied with the new law [in Louisiana],” says a company spokesperson. “Since then, our traffic in Louisiana has dropped by about 80 percent.” Rather than forcing platforms to check ages, it suggests adding more controls to children’s devices.
But age verification is not limited to adult content. Late last year, Meta announced it was partnering with online age verification company Yoti to add its tools to its dating site. Amazon has introduced its palm-based identity service to two bars in Denver, allowing them to verify that customers are over the drinking age. It appears the technology could become widespread soon.
Age verification is a blunt instrument. Online users will be reluctant to upload a photo of their driver’s license or passport to access sites that are completely legal. But the idea of protecting young children tends to gain unyielding support. Online privacy, already something of a myth, is about to take another hit.
elaine.moore@ft.com