RICHMOND, Va. — Some adult websites are blocked for Virginia residents as a new age verification law takes effect Saturday.
Gov. Glenn Youngkin signed SB1515 into law in May. It requires online pornography websites to do more to verify a person is 18 years old before gaining access to the site.
The new law requires adult sites to take further steps beyond entering a date of birth, such as making users submit copies of government-issued IDs, to access websites with pornographic content. Introduced by William R. Stanley (R-20th District), the bill received nearly unanimous support from Commonwealth lawmakers back in March.
Under the bill, a lawsuit could be brought against a site who did not use proper verification measures.
Virginia joins other states, like Utah and Louisiana, that require age verification to access adult content on the web. The age verification is required by all websites containing content with 33.3% or more pornographic material. It also requires third-party vendors to verify the age of users.
In the wake of these porn passport laws, an adult industry advocacy group Free Speech Coalition has filed lawsuits arguing that the new law unfairly discriminates against certain kinds of speech and intrudes on the privacy of individuals who want to view pornography.
"These laws give the state the power to harass and censor legal businesses," said Alison Boden, executive director of Free Speech Coalition. "We, of course, support keeping minors from accessing adult content but allowing the state to suppress certain speech by requiring invasive and burdensome systems that consumers refuse to engage in is simply state censorship."
As a result of the law taking effect on July 1, visitors to adult website Pornhub were greeted with a letter.
"As you may know, your elected officials in Virginia are requiring us to verify your age before allowing you to access our website," the letter reads. "While safety and compliance are at the forefront of our mission, giving your ID card every time you want to visit an adult platform is not the most effective solution for protection of our users, and in fact, will put children and your privacy at risk."
Sen. Louis Lucas took to Twitter to talk about the new law going into effect. She jokingly asked if anyone had noticed they were unable to access Pornhub.
Adding, that the bill was passed to protect children from online porn.
Pornhub and other opponents of the legislation say it will drive users to sites with fewer safety measures in place. Also, the use of a virtual private network (or VPN) allows users to skirt the blocked content by changing their location. In fact, Google Trends data shows "VPN" is a top search term in Virginia on Friday.
Some say this type of legislation could lead to bigger privacy issues. A recent report from Common Sense Media said 58% of teens aged 13-17 have seen adult content accidentally – 18% of whom reported that it was on social media. Opponents say that since social media sites are not reaching the threshold of 33.3% of pornographic material, the law would do nothing to protect young people.
Exodus Cry, an organization working to end human trafficking, calls the age verification laws a win.
"In a world of 'smart' internet-enabled devices, kids are being pummeled with the most graphic sexual content imaginable," the organization said in a post on Instagram. "Age verification is the only effective method of protecting children from online porn."