We’ve written about the privacy risks, First Amendment threats, the cost to tax-payers, and the chilling effect on innovation of proposed age verification legislation. Recent data indicates that, in addition to the previous issues mentioned, age verification laws are not effective.

The false promise of age verification laws is to keep children away from illicit and inappropriate content by correctly identifying them as underage. Age verification legislation varies, with some targeting app store entry points and others gating certain websites or platforms. Under most age verification legislation, platforms or websites that fail to correctly identify underage users can be held liable and penalized. The liability that accompanies such legislation puts an onus on the verifying party to collect as much data as possible and ensure accuracy.

Verifying parties are caught in a catch 22, wherein they can jeopardize their users’ privacies and undertake expensive compliance measures or face the penalties of noncompliance. Naturally, some platforms opt for the latter.

New research from the New York Center for Social Media and Politics analyzed search behavior through Google data and concluded that existing age verification laws do not work. Users simply shifted their searches away from sites that required age verification and toward recalcitrant platforms that did not verify. For example, while there was a drop in searches for PornHub in Louisiana, where a 2022 law blocked underage users from adult content, there was a spike in searches for XVideos, a noncompliant site. Undeterred by the regulation, underage users are driven to darker corners of the internet and sites that operate outside of the law, which are often even more dangerous.

Along with redirecting their traffic to more shadowy platforms, the data collected indicates that users will use Virtual Private Networks (VPNs) to block their location and circumvent the state legislation that mandates age verification. VPNs are often difficult to detect and add a new layer of complexity to the data collection process involved in age verification. Furthermore, VPNs are often less secure than more traditional networks. The study from NY Center for Social Media and Politics also noted that searches for VPNs increased after age verification laws were enacted.

Age verification proposals are popping up in legislatures across the nation. Despite their inefficacy, lawmakers seem eager to offer a “solution” to the risks and responsibilities that come with allowing children online. These efforts target more than just adult content and the Electronic Frontier Foundation gathered a list of some of the more outrageous proposed regulations. In California, lawmakers are pushing to age verify for certain skin care products and in Washington, diet products sold online would require users to turn over age verifying data. If the trends observed by the New York Center remain consistent, users will just find another, perhaps more dangerous way to reach the sites they want.

Children and families deserve better than false promises of an ultimate solution to the harms of inappropriate content (or skincare) online. Meaningful change and lasting safety begin when caretakers and policy makers are honest and educated about the risks of the digital world.