Bill to require additional proof of age for porn sites in Virginia heads to Youngkin’s desk

Virginia lawmakers recently passed a bill with near-unanimous support that would require pornography websites to more stringently verify whether a person is 18 before allowing them access to the site. However, some say the legislation raises data privacy concerns while doing little to keep minors out of pornographic websites.

Under the bill, verifying the age of a person trying to access these sites would go a step further than simply typing in a date of birth, said patron Sen. Bill Stanley, R-Franklin, during a House subcommittee last month. Websites, he said, would have to implement more advanced methods of their choosing to verify age, such as requiring users to submit copies of government-issued identification, biometric scans or use other forms of commercial age verification software.

“What we’ve had is the unfettered wild, wild west ability of these pornography sites, such as YouPorn and Pornhub, to have someone who accesses their site without restriction to age,” Stanley said.

The legislation aims to address the “epidemic” of childhood exposure to pornography, Stanley said.