Disclaimer: This blog entry does not contain any pornographic images or links to pornographic websites. This blog entry functions as a criticism of age verification laws.
If you listen to social conservatives, they will tell you that pornography and other adult content are some of the major scourges in our society. Last year, I wrote a two-part series (see Part I and Part II) about how the social conservatives' war on pornography and other adult content. I detailed how a) porn does not increase sexual assault, b) that the health effects of pornography are mixed at best, c) what a consenting adult does in the privacy of their home is no one else's business because of this is supposed to be a free country, d) banning porn would have major First Amendment implications, and e) forcing porn in the underground markets makes matters worse.
Even if one were to concede that porn consumption is acceptable for adults, what about children? Should it not be the government's priority to protect children from material that is not age-appropriate? I have covered the "think of the children" mantra multiple times, whether that has been with harmful COVID-era school closures, universal preschool, banning violent video games, or banning same-sex adoption. None of these instances merited government intervention, but maybe this time is different.
I would start out with the burdens that age verification laws create. The age verification law debate is not new in U.S. politics. There was a flurry of age verification laws in the 1990s, and the courts struck them down because they impose undue burden on adult speech, whether that is the First Amendment right to anonymity, user access, website feasibility, or a violation of the vagueness doctrine (especially with censoring LGBT content). This does not even get into the murky waters of having the government defining what constitutes as age-appropriate, which could be manipulated by policymakers to censor certain information.
Better technology does not resolve these issues because the French government found with their age verification laws that they neither verify age accurately, are user-friendly, nor do they protect user privacy. In modern times, these systems would be collecting sensitive data, whether that is government IDs or biometric information. With the prevalence of data breaches, I would contend that it causes greater risks than benefit. And imagine a world where everything you do online would be tracked to your government ID or other biometrics because that is exactly what proponents are asking for.
For argument's sake, let's give the social conservatives a benefit of the doubt and say that sacrificing the First Amendment and data privacy are acceptable prices to protecting the children. This leads to a more fundamental question of whether age verification laws protect children. According to a working paper from researchers at New York University and Stanford University released earlier this month (Lang et al., 2025), the answer to that question is a resounding "No!"
What did these researchers find about age verification laws that make them so ineffective? In short, people find ways around age verification laws. One is to find content providers that are not compliant with these laws. Another is to use virtual private network (VPN) services. VPN services allow a user to mask their location, thereby circumventing age verification laws. Another researcher from the University of Toronto similarly found that people find ways around the age verification laws (Spencer, 2025). When arguing against aTikTok ban, I pointed out that bans, whether it is illicit drugs, sodas greater than 16 ounces, or high-capacity magazines for guns, can be circumvented. Age verification laws are no exception.
I have pointed out the problem with multiple instances of bans driving people to underground markets or less savory options, whether it is with sports betting, marijuana, human organ sales, payday loans, or with regards to prostitution. According to one of the researchers, age verification laws do not reduce overall traffic, but rather "drive users toward potentially less regulated and more dangerous alternatives."
To summarize, age verification laws do nothing to protect children while harming data privacy and the First Amendment. Even the Right-leaning American Enterprise Institute recommended the market solution of greater parental controls instead of more government intervention. As TechFreedom's Corbin Barthold points out, "there is nothing conservative about letting the state watch your kids. If you're not overseeing your children's internet use..., laws are not going to keep them out of trouble." Much like with Trump's English as an official language executive order, age verification laws are an example of Right-wing virtue signaling that do not produce any material good.
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