Missouri Age Verification Law Takes Effect, Codifying an Attorney General Rule

A Missouri law requiring adult content websites to confirm that users are at least 18 took effect today, putting into statute the age-verification rule Attorney General Catherine Hanaway implemented by regulation last year.

The law, HB1839, requires covered websites to use a third party to run the check. That can mean digital recognition or uploading an identity document. The businesses conducting the verification are barred from retaining any identifying information.

Hanaway promulgated the original rule under the Missouri Merchandising Practices Act, applying it to commercial sites where a third or more of the content is pornographic. She said the legislature putting the same requirements into statute matters because a future attorney general could repeal a rule.

“We’re now joining the community of states who really care about kids and are protecting them online,” Hanaway told St. Louis Public Radio.

Pornhub blocked access for users in the state last year rather than comply with the rule. Hanaway said that apart from Pornhub’s exit she has seen no complaints since the rule took force. “We haven’t had concerns about it being difficult. We haven’t had concerns about noncompliance,” she said.

Enforcement sits with the attorney general’s office and would begin from complaints. Hanaway said the office has no interest in pursuing individual users and would target companies to confirm they are actually requiring verification.

Mike Stabile of the Free Speech Coalition, the adult industry trade body, argued the laws drive traffic away from platforms that moderate and remove illegal content toward sites that do not. He also pointed to circumvention, saying VPN use surges in every state that passes such a law.

Stabile said device-level checks would work better, drawing a comparison with unlocking a banking app by face on a handset where the data stays on the device.

Missouri joins a widening group of US states with adult content age verification on the books, working from different models. Ohio has tightened its requirements while Kansas has reached toward app stores and South Dakota has retreated. Similar rules abroad have drawn the same objections, with Australia’s adult content age verification prompting pushback when it took effect in March.

Sources: St. Louis Public Radio, Missouri Attorney General

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By the ID Tech Editorial Team