Age verification laws designed to block children from online porn sites are sweeping the US, Io Dodds writes. But do they actually protect children, or is there another agenda at work?

Summary

Several U.S. states have enacted laws requiring pornography sites, such as PornHub, to implement age verification to prevent minors’ access, prompting the site’s parent company, Aylo, to block access in affected states.

Proponents argue these laws protect children, while critics highlight privacy risks, inefficiencies, and potential censorship.

These measures reflect growing social conservatism, with some advocates aiming to restrict adult content broadly.

While privacy-focused age verification methods exist, regulatory clarity is lacking.

Critics warn these laws may suppress responsible platforms, favoring unregulated alternatives, and escalate broader culture wars around sexuality and LGBTQ+ rights.

    • pyre@lemmy.world
      14·
      20 hours ago

      classic fascist tactic. there’s a reason half of the 14 words is about children

    • gandalf_der_12te@discuss.tchncs.de
      31·
      13 hours ago

      step

      1. declare children don’t understand the world
      2. declare children can’t make reasonable choices
      3. parents and officials now get to decide what children do or don’t
      4. have obedient slaves.
    • Patariki@feddit.nl
      1·
      19 hours ago

      Depends on the context. After WW2 a lot of great things were done in favour of future generations, or the children of that time.

      In these times hate is being used to divide us while at the same time it’s socially and morally unacceptable to justify certain views, thus they look for pseudo reasons to mask their true reasons, in this case -for the children". Unfortunately we’re also entering a time where the psuedo reasons start becoming obsolete as hate mongering is being accepted.

      So i gotta disagree on the always, but it’s true for these times.