Since the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in Free Speech Coalition v. Paxton, more state age verification laws have been enacted around the United States, as well as proposed at the federal level and in other countries. Meanwhile, lawsuits resulting from AV laws have begun to play out in the courts. This roundup provides an update on the latest news and developments on the age verification front as it impacts the adult industry.
About half of all U.S. states currently have laws on the books that require adult websites to verify users’ ages. Should a federal AV law pass, its provisions would supersede those state laws. There are currently three pending proposals to make age verification by adult websites federal law.
One is the somewhat strenuously titled Shielding Children's Retinas from Egregious Exposure on the Net (SCREEN) Act. Introduced back in February 2025, the bill was amended in committee but then stalled out and has seen no movement since December.
An updated version of the SCREEN Act, however, is included in the Kids Internet and Digital Safety (KIDS) Act — an omnibus bill combining a suite of online safety bills. As XBIZ reported earlier this week, the KIDS Act may soon come up for a vote before the House of Representatives — but the measure faces a steep uphill battle due to opposition in the Senate over provisions relating to social media platforms. The KIDS Act has been vocally opposed by some 44 state attorneys general, and this week by a coalition of online safety organizations.
Finally, the new SAFE for Kids Act, introduced earlier this month, would also impose a federal AV mandate for adult websites. That bill is awaiting its first committee hearing but could serve as a federal AV "backup" plan if the KIDS Act fails to advance.
Around the World
In Canada, the Protecting Young Persons from Exposure to Pornography Act, which would require commercial adult websites to verify that Canadian users are at least 18 years old, had its first reading in the House of Commons at the end of April, after being passed by the Canadian Senate. It is still awaiting a second House reading.
In Brazil, the public comment period on interpretation and application of the country’s Digital Statute for Children and Adolescents (Digital ECA) ended on June 15. The law requires adult websites to age-verify users located in Brazil. Brazil’s National Data Protection Authority has already launched a complaints page where citizens can report possible violations of the Digital ECA, including failure to age-verify users.
U.K. media regulator Ofcom has been busy. In May, Ofcom initiated new investigations into two adult sites as part of its age assurance enforcement program under the Online Safety Act, and imposed fines totaling more than $800,000 against adult site operator Youngtek Solutions for failing to implement age checks and respond to information requests as required for compliance with the Online Safety Act. This month, Ofcom fined First Time Videos, which operates FTVGirls.com and FTVMilfs.com, more than $100,000 for failing to implement age checks. The agency also issued a provisional determination that the provider of xgroovy.com has failed to comply with age assurance requirements under the Online Safety Act and gave the site’s operator 20 working days to respond.
Poland’s Ministry of Digital Affairs is pushing for a national AV law, as the country attempts to catch up to other EU states in implementing the EU’s Digital Services Act (DSA). However, that bill will have to be approved by President Karol Nawrocki, who earlier this year vetoed another bill that would have implemented key DSA provisions.
EU-based WebGroup Czech Republic (WGCZ), the parent company of XVideos, XNXX, BangBros and GirlsGoneWild, last month settled a lawsuit filed by the state of Florida over those sites’ alleged failure to age-verify Florida users before allowing access to adult content. The settlement requires WGCZ to implement age verification on its sites and to pay $1.2 million.
In Ghana, where it is already illegal to produce, sell or distribute pornography, Minister of Communications, Digital Technology and Innovation Samuel George recently advocated for age verification rules to prevent minors from accessing adult content online. Addressing the Fourth African Regional Inter-Parliamentary Conference on Family Values and Sovereignty, George called for Ghana to require users to provide a driver’s license or national ID card before accessing adult content, “so that we know who you are and who is going to that site.” In his remarks, George incorrectly claimed that anyone in the United Kingdom accessing a pornographic website is required to provide their driver’s license in order to prove that they are 18 or older. In fact, the U.K.’s Online Safety Act allows for a range of methods as long as they fulfill media regulator Ofcom’s criteria as constituting “highly effective age assurance.”
Iowa Joins the AV Club, Missouri Next?
Earlier this month, Iowa Governor Kim Reynolds signed a new age verification bill into law. HF 864 requires websites and applications that contain a “substantial portion” of adult content — defined as 33% or more of “the total amount of data publicly available” — to use “reasonable” age verification to prevent minors from accessing such content.
As XBIZ reported when HF 864 was introduced, the initial draft of the legislation cited “obscene material” as requiring age verification for viewing, reflecting recurring confusion among legislators over the difference between obscenity and legal pornography. That confusion has been further exacerbated as many state AV bills and laws have defined “harmful to minors” by incorporating legal language traditionally used to define “obscenity.” The amended version of the bill, however, replaced that terminology with the phrase “pornographic for minors.”
Now that Reynolds has signed the bill into law, it will be enforced by Iowa’s attorney general via civil suits, with penalties of up to $1,000 per violation, for a maximum of $10,000 in a single day.
In Missouri, AV bill HB 1839 awaits only Governor Mike Kehoe’s signature to become law. As XBIZ reported last year, Missouri’s former attorney general unilaterally imposed state AV regulations, bypassing the legislative process in a controversial move. State legislators then introduced several bills aimed at putting a legislative stamp of approval on those AV regulations to ensure that the law will remain in effect even if the AG’s move were to face a legal challenge. Should Kehoe sign the bill into law, it will be enforced by Missouri’s attorney general via civil suits, with penalties of up to $10,000 per day plus up to $250,000 if minors access adult material in violation of AV requirements. The bill has been on Kehoe's desk for a month. Should he fail to sign or veto the legislation by 45 days after receiving it, it will automatically become law.
The VPN Wars Rage On
As XBIZ has reported, growing concern about the widespread use of virtual private networks to circumvent age verification has inspired both state and federal efforts to close that practical loophole.
Last month, a new Utah law making adult websites liable if minors in the state circumvent geolocation efforts to bypass age verification came into force. After Pornhub parent company Aylo filed a lawsuit over the rule, however, a U.S. district court approved a period of forbearance during which Utah agreed not to enforce that provision — at least not against Aylo — while litigation unfolds over the law’s constitutionality. In a recent court filing opposing an injunction against the law, Utah argued that, despite Aylo’s protestations, adult sites can easily detect VPN use and geolocate users.
As XBIZ reported in March, Aylo is already involved in another lawsuit over VPN-related issues. The state of Indiana is suing Aylo, alleging that the company and its affiliates have violated the state’s AV law by failing to prevent access by users using virtual private networks to avoid geolocation — even though, unlike Utah’s new law, Indiana law does not specify a duty to account for intentional circumvention of geoblocking.
Both cases will test whether sites can be held accountable for access by users who use VPNs and other means to circumvent geoblocking. Their outcomes are likely to impact the enforceability of other proposed legislation, such as Ohio’s “Innocence Act,” which would require adult sites to “utilize a geofence system maintained and monitored by a licensed location-based technology provider” to dynamically monitor a user’s physical location and ascertain whether the user is located in the state, and thereby subject to age verification.
Similarly, the proposed federal KIDS Act, discussed above, includes a provision requiring sites to take “reasonable measures” to address circumvention of age verification.
Failure to Launch: When AV Bills Run Out of Time
Multiple age verification bills failed to advance in the course of states' recent legislative sessions and are now effectively dead.
Bills that would have instituted or updated AV laws in Colorado, Hawaii, Illinois, Iowa, Maryland, Tennessee and West Virginia have now expired in this manner, though they could be reintroduced in the next legislative session.
In Massachusetts, Michigan, New Jersey, New York and Pennsylvania, bills to institute or update AV laws appear to be stalled out or have been delayed until the next session.
In New Hampshire, an AV bill passed the state Senate but was rejected by the House of Representatives. In New York, an AV bill was defeated in the Senate Internet and Technology Committee.
