So the idea is that actually, inefficiencies in the porn market are good because then there is less porn consumption, and so the standard libertarian critique does not apply. This may be true generally, but I really doubt that it does here, because I don't think your treatment of Sanchez's arguments succeeds.
A friction to demand a vice may generally be good, but the friction here is truly trivial. I strongly doubt that the main target of this regulation -- adolescents -- will be deterred in the slightest by a requirement to use a VPN. This is just objectively not hard. VPN companies have an incentive to make it as easy as possible. And VPN demand has soared after these regulations are imposed.
Furthermore, there are dimensions to porn site size that you don't address. Remember a few years ago when it came out that Pornhub was littered with non-consensual content, sometimes depicting minors? Facing an existential crisis, they took action to clean up their site. I don't know how effective it was, but I do know that other free sites didn't face the same scrutiny. Being a large and dominant firm, pornhub has the largest incentive to provide a less harmful product.
I don't dispute that pron consumption is bad (on the current margin) nor do I dispute that introducing inefficiencies can improve welfare. But the VPN friction is so small and you don't engage with one of the biggest sources of harm related to online porn. As a result, Sanchez is still completely correct. And more broadly, these regulations seem more like an effort for anti porn legislators to signal what side they are in than to actually do something, using children as a rallying cry without actually doing anything to benefit children -- where have I seen this before?
Finally, it should be possible to create decentralized age verification technology, but certainly not by state legislature fiat. It will require the big tech companies to wake up and realize there is a problem, and actually deploy decentralized technology to a socially beneficial end.
Yes Of Course You Can Regulate Porn
Great essay, thank you
So the idea is that actually, inefficiencies in the porn market are good because then there is less porn consumption, and so the standard libertarian critique does not apply. This may be true generally, but I really doubt that it does here, because I don't think your treatment of Sanchez's arguments succeeds.
A friction to demand a vice may generally be good, but the friction here is truly trivial. I strongly doubt that the main target of this regulation -- adolescents -- will be deterred in the slightest by a requirement to use a VPN. This is just objectively not hard. VPN companies have an incentive to make it as easy as possible. And VPN demand has soared after these regulations are imposed.
Furthermore, there are dimensions to porn site size that you don't address. Remember a few years ago when it came out that Pornhub was littered with non-consensual content, sometimes depicting minors? Facing an existential crisis, they took action to clean up their site. I don't know how effective it was, but I do know that other free sites didn't face the same scrutiny. Being a large and dominant firm, pornhub has the largest incentive to provide a less harmful product.
I don't dispute that pron consumption is bad (on the current margin) nor do I dispute that introducing inefficiencies can improve welfare. But the VPN friction is so small and you don't engage with one of the biggest sources of harm related to online porn. As a result, Sanchez is still completely correct. And more broadly, these regulations seem more like an effort for anti porn legislators to signal what side they are in than to actually do something, using children as a rallying cry without actually doing anything to benefit children -- where have I seen this before?
Finally, it should be possible to create decentralized age verification technology, but certainly not by state legislature fiat. It will require the big tech companies to wake up and realize there is a problem, and actually deploy decentralized technology to a socially beneficial end.