Please Geoblock Utah, Montana, Texas, Virginia, Arkansas, Arizona, and Mississippi

[Michael Zimmerman]

On Wednesday May 3, Utah will become the second state to require age
verification for sites hosting adult content. Sites that do not
age-verify users as prescribed by the law will be liable for civil suits
should a minor access — and be harmed by — content on the site.

Unfortunately, the Utah legislation does not provide a straightforward
way to comply. While Louisiana’s LA Wallet offers a system for websites
to remotely validate IDs, Utah’s digital ID provider does not offer that
functionality. And the other compliance methods required by the
legislation don’t align with the current offerings from most if not all,
AVS providers.

Mississippi, Arkansas, and Virginia have also passed Louisiana-style
laws — with similar compliance issues — and Montana looks poised to do
the same. All told, we expect half a dozen age-verification laws to be
in effect by this summer.

Despite the hype, there’s been very little adherence to new age
verification mandates. Almost all sites are geo-blocking Louisiana. In
Utah, where there is even less ability to comply, we will likely see
more blocks.

FSC has contacted Utah officials to determine if website compliance is
possible through their state’s digital ID provider. In the interim, we
are continuing to look for solutions that would fully comply with the
legislation and reduce the need for multiple verifications while
avoiding massive fees and privacy risks for users. So far, we haven’t
found a solution that meets all or even most of those criteria.

While we’re looking at potential challenges to these laws, everyone’s
risk tolerance is different. For those with low risk tolerance, it might
make sense to onboard the AVS provider of your choice — Yoti and
VerifyMy are both members of FSC. Others might move toward keeping
explicit content behind a paywall, which won’t entirely protect them but
will likely reduce the chance that a minor can access their content.

If you decide that blocking traffic is the right approach for your site,
Free Speech Coalition has created a site that you can redirect users
from those states to that explains why they’re being blocked and
encourages them to contact their legislators. For more information,
check out https://www.DefendOnlinePrivacy.com.

That said, we have yet to see any cases filed in Louisiana (caveat: the
state seems poised to pass a bill allowing the Attorney General to bring
lawsuits directly). For those with higher risk tolerance, that may be
enough. FSC always advises consulting with your legal advisors on
questions like these.

While we cannot tell you precisely what’s right for your business, we
will continue to keep you informed. Below is our list of upcoming
deadlines for compliance. A complete list of AVS legislation is
available on our Bill Tracker.

Utah: May 3, 2023
Mississippi: July 1, 2023
Virginia: July 1, 2023*
Arkansas: July 31, 2023
Arizona: August 1, 2023*
Texas: September 1, 2023*
Montana: January 1, 2024*
* if passed