Analysis shows that mandatory age verification laws are ineffective and create unnecessary burdens

Countries around the world are implementing measures to require age verification on social media and adult websites to protect minors from sexual and violent content, such as the UK's Online Safety Act , which will come into effect in 2024, and the US's App Store Liability Act , which was enacted in May 2025. While various websites and platforms have added mechanisms for implementing age verification, a survey conducted by a nonprofit organization specializing in public policy reported that these measures are costly and burdensome, while not necessarily being sufficiently effective.

Perspective25-06Final.pdf (PDF file)
https://www.phoenix-center.org/perspectives/Perspective25-06Final.pdf

Age-verification laws don't keep minors off adult sites, study suggests | Mashable
https://mashable.com/article/age-verification-may-impede-on-adults-rights-study-suggests

The Online Safety Act is described as 'imposing new safety obligations on social media companies, search engines, messaging apps, gaming apps, dating apps, pornography sites, and file-sharing sites,' and in July 2025, Bluesky , Reddit , and major pornography site Pornhub introduced age verification, including specific checks, before displaying restricted content. However, these laws have been criticized for requiring excessive censorship and, in some cases, for requiring costly age verification systems, placing too much of a burden on providers, especially smaller sites.

UK's online safety law comes into effect, criticised as effectively shutting out small site operators from the internet - GIGAZINE

Laws requiring age verification generally require visitors to verify their age not just with a 'yes/no' answer, but also through ID or facial recognition scanning. For example, Reddit uses a third-party provider called ' Persona ' to verify age when viewing 'restricted content' related to sexually explicit or violent content. Persona verifies the user's date of birth and ID, and then, to protect user privacy, only stores the authentication status and does not retain the data for more than seven days.

The Phoenix Center, a nonprofit organization specializing in public policy, has pointed out that mandatory age verification is ineffective and may not pass the 'cost-benefit test' under the U.S. Constitution, which compares the burdens and benefits of regulations. The U.S. Constitution's freedom of expression guarantees that 'when government regulations restrict freedom of expression, the justification of the restriction must be considered by balancing the benefits and burdens.' However, a study published on November 12, 2025, found that mandatory age verification cannot be justified under the Constitution because the burden of invading adults' privacy and restricting access outweighs the social benefits gained from mandatory age verification.

George S. Ford, chief economist at the Phoenix Center, and his colleagues analyzed Google Trends search data to compare states that have implemented mandatory age verification with those that have not. The analysis found the following significant trends in states that have implemented age verification:

Significant increase in searches for VPNs to bypass age verification
The week Pornhub restricted access from Texas, searches for VPNs increased by 47%, a trend that continued for approximately 20 weeks.

Increased searches for free pornography that doesn't require age verification
When major sites added age verification, searches for 'free porn' that don't require age verification increased by 30% and haven't seen a significant drop off since.

A similar trend is occurring in the UK, where Proton, the provider of the VPN service 'Proton VPN,' revealed that the number of VPN service users increased by 1,400% following the introduction of age verification under the Online Safety Act in July 2025. In addition, a survey conducted by the Washington Post in September 2025 reported that 'sites that complied with age verification rules saw a decrease in traffic, while sites that ignored them saw a sharp increase in access,' pointing out that 'sites that ignore the rules are benefiting.'

In the UK, age verification requirements for internet services have been introduced, and VPN service registrations have increased by 1400% - GIGAZINE

In response to the findings, Ford said, 'Minors who are subject to age verification requirements are tech-savvy and can easily circumvent regulations, while adults who can exercise their constitutional rights to view content are forced to bear significant costs under the age verification regulatory regime.' He also pointed out that because age verification requirements are easily circumvented, their 'benefit' in protecting minors is extremely limited, and that 'they do not meet the requirements for impeding constitutional freedom of expression,' making laws that impose age verification requirements potentially unconstitutional.

Meanwhile, BiometricUpdate , a news outlet covering biometrics, cited the Phoenix Center's findings as a fundamental misunderstanding of key aspects of the Online Safety Act and its accompanying age verification requirements. According to BiometricUpdate, it's unreasonable to assume a correlation between the increase in searches for VPNs and free pornography and actual instances of minors using VPNs to circumvent age verification. BiometricUpdate also noted that even if tech-savvy minors were using VPNs to access restricted content, the age verification requirement is effective because it prevents 'young children from unintentionally encountering extreme content.'