Overview
- Effective Sept. 30, pornography sites and platforms hosting a significant amount of content deemed harmful to juveniles must confirm Ohio users are 18 by checking government IDs or equivalent documents or by using third-party systems.
- Purveyors must delete verification documents immediately after use unless the user maintains an account, and account holders are required to reverify their age every two years.
- Adult websites are responsible for monitoring visitor location to ensure in-state compliance, and the Ohio attorney general has sole authority to bring civil actions against noncompliant platforms.
- The statute expressly exempts news media and cable and streaming providers, and a sponsoring lawmaker said it was not intended to cover mainstream social platforms such as X and Reddit.
- Industry responses vary, with some major sites blocking access in many states and others, including OnlyFans, adopting verification vendors like Yoti, as the nationwide landscape shifts following the Supreme Court’s decision upholding Texas’s law.