Louisiana Republicans pass bill requiring age verification for viewing pornography

Republican lawmakers in Louisiana passed a bill in the last week that requires anyone viewing pornographic content online in the state to verify they are over 18 years of age in order to enter certain websites that contain explicit material.

The law, which went into effect on New Year’s Day, requires any website containing 33.33 percent or more of pornographic content to verify users’ ages before allowing them to continue viewing the site.

If a website fails to do so, family members or parties negatively affected by viewing the explicit material reserves the right to take legal action against the owners of the offending site.

The popular pornography site Pornhub.com now requires a government ID in order to verify a user’s age, as seen in a video posted to Twitter that shows a notification upon entering the site citing the new Louisiana law and prompting users to provide government identification to prove they are over 18 years of age before they can access the site’s content.

The new legislation requires users to utilize a phone app called LA Wallet to provide proof of age to access explicit content online.

The app securely stores users’ driver’s license or government identification information so it can be used to verify their ages in order to bypass the age verification barriers.

Federal lawmakers have explored similar measures recently, including the introduction of a bill from Utah Senator Mike Lee (R) last month that would require adult sites nationwide to verify the ages of users.

The SCREEN Act (Shielding Children’s Retinas from Egregious Exposure on the Net) would require the Federal Communications Commission to utilize the same type of technology to ensure children are not able to access explicit content. It is unclear whether the measure or others like it will be taken up by the incoming Congress.