Conservative government would compel porn websites to verify age of users: Poilievre

A future Conservative government would change the law to require that porn websites verify the age of users to prevent minors from accessing the content, Opposition Leader Pierre Poilievre signalled on Wednesday.

When asked whether his government would require that porn websites verify the age of users, Poilievre gave a one-word answer: «Yes.»

He didn't offer further explanation and his office quickly followed up with a statement asserting that the Tories don't believe in the imposition of a digital ID.

The Tories are sponsoring and supporting a Senate private member's bill that promises to require age verification for people to access pornography online.

Bill S-210 passed in the Senate in the spring and New Democrats, Bloc Quebecois and Conservative MPs voted to send it to a House of Commons committee for study. No such meetings have been scheduled yet.

The proposed law would compel websites to verify users' ages before allowing them to access sexually explicit content, and it would penalize sites that don't comply.

But it does not specify how that would be done.

Options could include the use of a digital government ID, as some U.S. states have legislated, or services that can estimate age based on a scan of a person's face.

Such suggestions have prompted widespread concern from privacy experts about their overarching impacts — from the risks associated with asking Canadians to share personal information with an external provider to the use of measures such as facial recognition technology.

Sebastian Skamski, a spokesperson for Poilievre, said shortly after the leader's remarks Wednesday that Conservatives do not support any measures that would allow the imposition of a digital ID or infringe on the privacy of adults and their