On Thursday, Governor Mike Kehoe signed an online age verification rule into state law.
House Bill 1839 now requires age verification through a third party for websites that have more than one-third of its content containing sexual materials, also covering social media.
Former Attorney General Andrew Bailey initiated the rule and current AG Catherine Hanaway continues it.
The law says that people can verify their age through digital identification, government issued ID, or transactional data.
“Digital identification” is being defined as information stored digitally so that it may be used to provide proof of identity. Importantly, the new law states that the third party cannot retain any identifying information.
Some opponents to the new law say that it curtails free speech among adults and hinders their data security and privacy.
The Attorney General’s Office will issue penalties for violators which include:
$10,000 per day that a commercial entity operates a website in violation of the age-verification requirements.
$10,000 per instance when a commercial entity retains identifying information in violation.
An additional amount of no more than $250,000 if one or more minors accessed sexual material harmful to minors in violation of the age verification requirements.
The websites will also have to display a disclaimer warning of the potential dangers of sexually explicit material online that also includes a helpline.