Since 2016, Utah law has mandated that any public school or library applying for state money must provide filtering software on its computers to prevent access to child pornography and other obscene material on the internet.
The study, conducted by researchers at the University of Oxford, finds that such filters are “entirely ineffective” at keeping young people from getting to online porn and similar material.
“There is little empirical evidence that Internet filters provide an effective means to limit children’s and adolescents' exposure to online sexual material,” said the study, authored by researchers Andrew K.