<
https://www.techdirt.com/2026/04/16/the-right-wing-origins-age-verification-laws-dont-disappear-just-because-theyre-going-bipartisan/>
"I think it’s important to understand that, despite claims to the contrary, age
verification is, inherently, a right-wing effort. While it’s currently true
that age verification laws are being supported globally by those on the
political right and left, they started as very much a right wing effort to
suppress disliked speech by claiming it was harmful to children. Even if some
of the laws now have bipartisan support, we need to understand its origins.
People will point to the bipartisan nature of many of these current laws to
push back on the idea that it’s truly a right wing effort. Australia’s
monstrosity of age-gating laws was adopted by the collective efforts of
center-left and left-wing political parties part of the ruling government. The
Online Safety Act in the United Kingdom was the brainchild of Conservative
Party MPs under former Prime Minister Theresa May, but the Labour government
under Prime Minister Keir Starmer is now carrying out the policies of the
sweeping digital regulatory measures in national law.
But age verification laws, today, originate from right-wing and far-right
efforts to restrict access to porn and other content that could be classified
as “harmful to minors.” As documented extensively by academics, cybersecurity
experts, folks here at
Techdirt, and in my own investigative journalism,
these laws define content as “pornographic” or “harmful to minors” under such
broad definitions."
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
