Meanwhile, in Louisiana: A new law in Louisiana, which took effect at the beginning of 2023, requires residents of the state to verify they are at least 18 years old via the LA Wallet app on pornography websites such as PornHub and OnlyFans. It also requires any online publishers whose content is more than 33.3% pornographic to have visitors verify their ages.

Republican State Rep. Laurie Schlegel authored House Bill 142, which passed under the designation Act 440. It was signed by Gov. John Bel Edwards in June 2022. The bill’s intention is to combat the overexposure of minors to pornography that is occurring 'due to advances in technology.'

'Pornography contributes to the hyper-sexualization of teens and prepubescent children and may lead to low self-esteem, body image disorders, an increase in problematic sexual activity at younger ages, and increased desire among adolescents to engage in risky sexual behavior,' the bill reads.

Though the bill states that pornographic websites 'shall not retain any identifying information of the individual after access 16 has been granted to the material,' the new policy has nevertheless raised concerns among privacy advocates about potential misuse — especially when it comes to certain marginalized populations.

‘As homophobia and transphobia — especially homophobia in the context of porn — is rising, I could totally see the state zeroing in on people consuming gay porn, or lesbian porn, and either surveilling them further or criminalizing that,’ said Olivia Snow, a dominatrix and research fellow at UCLA’s Center for Critical Internet Inquiry, via TechCrunch.

In addition to potential privacy concerns, Snow told TechCrunch that the bill is likely to negatively impact sex workers under the guise of protecting children. '[Act 440] is really just further marginalizing sex workers, which I think is going to be the primary effect,' Snow said. 'I imagine this means that there will be an increased black market of premium content that’s non-consensually disseminated … [as well as] sex workers losing another stream of income and having to resort to less protected avenues.'