Pornhibition: Analyzing the Effects of Age Verification Laws on Pornography Consumption and Risky Behaviors

• In Event: Cyber-Risky Behaviors

Abstract

The top three pornography websites receive nearly 8 billion monthly visits globally—more than Amazon, TikTok, OpenAI, and Netflix combined (Wright, Tounaga, & Herbenick, 2023). A large body of research links adolescent pornography consumption to increased sexual aggression, risky sexual behavior, and worsening mental health. In response to growing concerns about the health and safety of minors, Louisiana became the first state to enact an age verification law on January 1, 2023. This law requires websites with at least 33.3 percent pornographic content to verify that users are at least 18 years old, or else face substantial fines. Since then, 20 additional states have passed similar age verification laws. Despite the growing adoption of age verification laws, there is little empirical evidence on their effectiveness in limiting minors’ access to pornography and their impact on pornography consumption and risky behaviors in the broader population. On one hand, by requiring users to provide personal information to pornography sites, these laws could reduce consumption by creating a significant privacy barrier—deterring not only minors but also adults from visiting such websites. On the other hand, users may instead turn to non-compliant sites or employ technologies like VPNs to bypass restrictions, leading to little or no change in overall consumption. By seeking out noncompliant sites, users may also risk encountering more harmful content and less secure management of their personal data. In this paper, I evaluate the impact of age verification laws on pornography consumption using Google Trends data. Using an event study design that exploits the staggered adoption of these laws, I find that search interest in the most popular pornographic site drops by nearly 30 index points in the month of enactment and remains at least 50 points below the pre-policy average one year later. However, interest in noncompliant pornographic sites and VPN-related searches rises after implementation. In the month the law takes effect, search interest in the two leading non-compliant sites increases by 13 and 22 index points, respectively–levels that persist at more than 19 and 30 points above pre-policy averages one year later. Interest in VPN-related searches remain significantly elevated for at least three months after enactment. These findings suggest that the effectiveness of age verification laws is undermined by the availability of substitutes and technological workarounds.

Author

• Emily Davis, University of Notre Dame
  Presenting Author