Minors in NJ can access online porn too easily, advocates say

⚫ Many states mandate age verification measures on adult content sites

⚫ There's a proposal in New Jersey to mandate the same measures here

⚫ Experts worry that easy access is ruining today's youth

Click on one search-engine entry, say you're at least 18 years old — even if you're not — and you're led to an endless online stream of pornographic videos, for free.

Access to adult material is too easy for minors to come by in New Jersey, according to advocates who are pushing lawmakers to follow the lead of several other states and implement true age verification measures on "big porn" websites.

"Parental safety controls can only do so much," said Victoria Galy, a sex trafficking survivor. "Without age verification, we are basically saying it is OK for our children to be exposed to these materials."

Galy made her comments on Monday during a special hearing in the New Jersey Legislature, led by Assemblyman Jay Webber, R-Morris. Legislators invited speakers to discuss the impact of pornography on children and how technology can protect minors from accessing adult content online.

"We have to act now because we are losing a precious generation of kids who think that sexual violence is the norm," said Heidi Olson, a sexual assault examiner.

In one U.S. study, more than 40% of youth aged 10 to 17 indicated that they had viewed pornography online. Observers believe the issue has worsened since the coronavirus pandemic, when most people were forced to work or attend school remotely.

Verifying a user's age

"This is unacceptable and we are at stage now where we must hold big porn sites accountable if they refuse to implement proper age verification," said Helen Taylor, with the group Exodus Cry.

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Webber is the primary sponsor behind a bill that requires the operators of certain websites to use "reasonable age verification" methods to determine whether or not a user is a minor.

As of June, close to 20 states had passed laws requiring age verification to access online pornography. Louisiana got the ball rolling in January 2023.

"It's actually pretty straightforward to prove your age online without disclosing your identity," said Iain Corby, executive director of the Age Verification Providers Association. "Frankly, if we can put a man on the moon, we can do that."

Scanning an ID wouldn't necessarily have to be part of approval process, advocates noted. With today's technology, a selfie, or even one's voice or body movements, can give websites enough information to grant or deny access to a user.

Pornhub response

Aylo, the parent company of the site Pornhub, says it has supported age verification for years, but "any law to this effect must preserve user safety and privacy."

"Unfortunately, the way many jurisdictions worldwide have chosen to implement age verification is ineffective, haphazard, and dangerous," the company told New Jersey 101.5 in an email.

In Louisiana last year, Pornhub traffic fell by about 80% when the site complied with the state's verification law, Aylo said.

"These people did not stop looking for porn. They just migrated to darker corners of the internet that don't ask users to verify age, that don't follow the law, that don't take user safety seriously, and that often don't even moderate content," Aylo said. "In practice, the laws have just made the internet more dangerous for adults and children."

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