Louisiana Now Checking IDs for Watching Porn

A law that took effect in Louisiana this week means visitors to adult websites must now provide identification. Anyone under 18 years of age is prohibited.

MindGeek, the parent company behind Pornhub and other popular adult platforms, now requires visitors in Louisiana to submit their driver’s license or state ID before viewing any videos.

The rule change comes as a result of Louisiana House Bill 142, which was passed last year. It says platforms must check IDs if “more than thirty-three and one-third percent of total material” on the platform could be defined as “material harmful to
minors.” The law defines “material harmful to minors” to include basically any pornographic content, and then some. The definition includes not just depictions or descriptions of various body parts (“pubic hair, anus, vulva, genitals, or nipple of the female breast”) and any sex act but also “any material that the average person, applying contemporary community standards would find, taking the material as a whole and with respect to minors, is designed to appeal to, or is designed to pander to, the prurient interest.”

Porn platforms can verify viewer ages using an app developed by the state government called LA Wallet, which digitizes driver’s licenses.

What could go wrong? So much!

Sure, most people would prefer minors not log on to porn websites. But do lawmakers really think this will actually prevent motivated teenagers from finding online porn? Not only can they still access online porn platforms not subject to Louisiana laws, but they can also still view porn on U.S. platforms so long as porn only makes up a portion of a platform’s content. They could also easily use a VPN to mask their real locations.

While the law might not actually stop minors from glimpsing naked bodies, it will infringe on the privacy of plenty of adults, providing a record of everyone who wants to watch videos on Pornhub or other popular porn platforms.

Porn platforms are instructed not to store any data from LA Wallet after verifying ages. But mistakes can be made. And it’s unclear how LA Wallet records and retains information about where it’s been used.

Hello from the surveillance state of Louisiana. People in Louisiana have to use their drivers license to go to pornhub. This is truly wild. Under his eye. https://t.co/uji6Jo3Tde pic.twitter.com/pVKEeVcCGw

— Public Defendering (@fodderyfodder) January 2, 2023

If the idea is to promote responsible porn production, distribution, and consumption, Louisiana’s law could actually backfire, especially if other states—or the federal government—start to follow suit.

Privacy-minded adults (and teens blocked from legal access) may proceed to abandon U.S.-based porn platforms in favor of sites based in places without ID requirements. And those platforms may also have more lax protocols around piracy, performer safety, performer age verification, and profit-sharing with performers, as well as less (or no) responsiveness to U.S. law enforcement and courts when something is amiss.

The fact that platforms can circumvent Louisiana’s ID requirement if two-thirds of their content isn’t porn could lead to some interesting workarounds—and possibly unintended consequences, too. Platforms serving up porn may decide to load up on other kinds of content, as well, thereby drawing in even greater numbers of viewers. And there’s nothing saying the non-porn content must be watched as much as the porn content.

Interestingly, the age of sexual consent in Louisiana is just 17 years old. So the state thinks 17-year-olds are old enough to have sex, but not old enough to watch people having sex.

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