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by Elizabeth Nolan Brown
Reason.com
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.”
