On May 12th, 2023, Virginia Governor Glenn Youngkin signed Senate Bill 1515, effectively requiring all pornographic websites to input some form of age verification system to ensure its users are over 18. This bill is one step towards reducing the negative externalities caused by major pornographic companies and their ease of access, which has brought the average age at which Americans begin viewing pornography to 13 years old. 

When Alexander Rhodes was 11 years old, he mistakenly clicked on a banner ad which led him to an image depicting rape. According to him, this was the catalyst for his long-standing battle with pornography addiction. By the time Rhodes had reached his teenage years, he had become accustomed to relying on internet pornography due to how easily accessible it was across the web. In college, Rhodes was watching pornographic material up to 14 times a day. In his interview with the New York Times, Rhodes discusses the way in which this addiction impacted his ability to maintain a healthy relationship. In recent years, Rhodes has been able to overcome his pornography addiction while also becoming a great advocate for other victims of this modern-age affliction.

Stories like those of Rhodes are not uncommon in any regard. A 2020 study by Christina Camilleri et al. composed of university students found that the majority age range at which pornography is first consumed is between the ages of 9 and 13. These numbers are jarring and nearly unfathomable; however, they reflect the true ease with which pornography can be accessed on the internet. The most recent PornHub statistics are not accessible because the website was recently shut down in Virginia in retaliation to the new legislation; however, in 2021, the website (which is the largest pornography database in America) gained approximately 130 million visits a day, with one ranking listing it as the 10th most visited website in the world. These 130 million visits only include visits from those residing in the United States, which is the biggest contributor to PornHub traffic to date. These statistics are mere glances into the true magnitude of internet pornography in the modern world. 

Since the beginning of 2023, Arkansas, Virginia, Mississippi, Utah, North Carolina, Texas, Montana, and Louisiana have all passed legislation that enforces some form of age verification or restriction on pornographic websites. The Virginia law specifically requires all pornographic websites to verify the age of their users through a method such as government-issued ID checking; if the websites do not comply, they can be sued for the damages that result from a minor's exposure to such material. The Free Speech Coalition has stated its opposition to these new accessibility laws and has begun challenging them in several states. Their main arguments are that this restriction will not effectively prevent children from accessing pornographic material, that it will endanger users' private information, that it will increase the use of illegal content, and that requiring age verification to view adult content is unconstitutional. 

The greatest catalyst for the extremely young age at which people first view pornography is the ease with which it can be accessed. The introduction of the World Wide Web in 1989 changed how education systems, economies, and jobs operated while also creating a democratized source of information, media, and knowledge. In the decade before the internet, pornography was accessible through the purchase of magazines, films, photos, or books. Following the creation of the internet, however, pornography became accessible through a few clicks of a button and could be viewed in private without exposing one's interests to a store clerk or ticket salesperson. Without having to pay for pornography or having to face the possible judgment of purchasing it from someone, pornography consumption skyrocketed. In recent years, pornography has been advertised across the internet. Though the current forms of mass pornographic production and consumption have many negative ramifications, the normalization of pornography is not something inherently negative and has decreased stigmas surrounding people working in the pornographic industry and overall discussions of sexuality. There are many ethical pornographic companies but unfortunately, such companies are not dominating the industry because they do not provide their users with the same ease of accessibility as major pornographic hubs. In a society that gives children access to the internet at constantly increasing rates, there should be some method to protect them from seeing material that could cause irreversible effects on young minds. The solution of age verification will not completely prevent minors from viewing pornography and cannot do anything regarding VPNs or other methods of avoiding the age verification law. Age verification can, however, decrease the ease with which minors can view pornography in addition to preventing unwanted exposure to such material. 

The argument that these new laws violate the First Amendment must be considered depending on the state's specific age-verification law and by considering the subtexts of each. The conversation of whether or not a restrictive law would be considered a violation of the First Amendment also depends on several factors, including “the existence of a demonstrable harm that a restriction on content may address and the government’s ability to ensure that any restriction does not encumber more constitutionally protected speech than is necessary.” Additionally, in the case of Miller v. California, Miller mailed pornographic material en masse to various unconsenting recipients and argued that his conviction was a violation of his First Amendment rights. The Supreme Court held that the First Amendment allows content-based restrictions on certain types of unprotected speech. Categories of unprotected speech include, among others, fighting words, defamation, child pornography, and obscenity. The Miller Test, which has since been used to determine obscenity, has three qualifiers: whether the average person, applying contemporary community standards would find that the work, taken as a whole, appeals to prurient interest; whether the work depicts or describes, in a patently offensive way, sexual conduct specifically defined by the applicable state law; and whether the work, taken as a whole, lacks serious literary, artistic, political, or scientific value. Not all pornography is considered obscene; however, with the unhinged nature of internet porn and the lack of control big corporations have over their content, obscene content has become much more common. 

When scrolling through a pornographic website like PornHub, one finds that the most popular videos are those which exploit or degrade women in some way. Rather than prioritizing a moral standpoint, typical pornography websites prioritize profit and revenue and monetize such content. The weak business model within these companies has surprisingly proved to effectively assist them in gaining profit; however, this profit is gained with no regard to the offensive and obscene material that the lack of organization has publicized. The porn industry is one that experienced a quick emergence as one of the top internet organizations. The speed with which it arose did not leave time for regulations to be created to protect those victimized by trafficking and those susceptible to addiction or simply harmful social messaging. The issue with this new age of excessive pornographic consumption does not lie solely in pornography itself, but rather in the way in which the industry profits from sexual violence, abuse, child pornography, and many more forms of exploitation and manipulation. As individuals and companies call out massive pornographic corporations for their lack of demonetization, barely receiving anything but empty statements and promises in return, more and more people have begun to realize the power the industry holds. Video proof of people committing serious sexual offenses is strewn across the internet and yet the number of convictions that stem from pornography does not even come close to matching that number.

In the United States, a legislative act entitled Communications Act 230 is in place; this act prevents internet platforms from being held accountable for anything their users post. This government legislation is in place to protect individuals' freedom of speech online, but its existence also protects mainstream porn companies from taking responsibility for their lack of censorship and content standards. The mainstream porn industry has proven itself to be unethical under most standards; however, the presence of smaller pornographic production companies that are dedicated to creating an ethical form of internet pornography cannot be disregarded. Such companies have switched the conversation of pornography from the removal of the industry to the improvement of it. Pornography is not inherently harmful and has been proven to positively benefit many groups of people; thus, the necessary regulations must be respectful to the industry and should not serve to defame it. 

Until the obscene material on these websites can be accounted for, it is not safe to give children such easy access to pornography. Witnessing videos of intense and often violent sexual acts is bound to negatively impact how anyone acts in future relationships, and such an impact is only escalated when it regards a young and impressionable mind. The age restriction laws are by no means ideal; however, they are a means of protecting minors with the least possible impact on adults' First Amendment rights. By protecting minors from this material, this law is investing in future generations and ensuring they do not have a skewed idea of what relationships should look like while also giving them the space to explore such material when their minds have developed.