WASHINGTON—The U.S. State Department is pushing countries worldwide to adopt age-verification laws targeting adult material.
Right-wing news outlet The Daily Wire was the first to report this development, saying that it obtained an "internal memo" instructing U.S. diplomats to push countries to adopt "age assurance" technologies and laws that protect kids, "while not compromising fundamental freedoms" for others.
A spokesperson for the State Department issued a statement to AVN corroborating the position laid out in The Daily Wire's story, without confirming the existence of the purported internal memo.
"Protecting children from online exploitation and abuse is a top priority for the United States," the spokesperson told AVN. "We believe these protections should be implemented in ways that are rights-respecting and do not unduly compromise privacy or freedom of expression.
"We favor age assurance that is narrowly tailored, clearly defined, and utilizes privacy-preserving technologies," the spokesperson continued. "As countries explore frameworks to protect children online, the United States stands ready to engage and encourage that these measures are effective, balanced, and do not impose unintended consequences on fundamental freedoms or technological progress."
This is a position that emulates those of other organizations across the executive branch, including the short-staffed Federal Trade Commission (FTC), which earlier this year officially endorsed age verification laws at the national level, along with latent endorsements for proposals in Congress, including the highly controversial Kids Online Safety Act.
Such endorsements are viewed by some observers as stemming from the seeming adoption by President Donald J. Trump's administration of the far-right Project 2025 agenda, which called for the total prohibition of online pornography and the imprisonment of pornographers and others the authors considered as such.
Note that Russell Vought, the Trump administration's director of the Office of Management and Budget, was caught on hidden camera ahead of the 2024 Presidential Election explaining to undercover journalists for the Centre for Climate Reporting that age verification could serve as a "back door" to banning legal pornography.
