Ohio passes age verification law for adult content sites

Age assurance legislation continues to mature across the U.S., with Ohio becoming the latest state to pass a law requiring age checks for users accessing adult content sites.

The Ohio Capital Journal reports that, beginning on September 29, 2025, residents will be asked to prove their age before logging on to watch pornographic content on streaming sites such as Pornhub and XVideos. State Representatives Josh Williams, R-Sylvania, and Steve Demetriou, R-Bainbridge Twp., have included a provision in the state budget bill requiring as much.

Acceptable age verification or inference methods include third party providers for verifying photo IDs or transactional records, such as mortgage or employment data.

The law enables Ohio’s attorney general to file civil lawsuits against non-compliant companies, which could lead to court injunctions. Technically, it applies to “any establishment that is primarily centered on explicit content and makes a significant amount of money on said content,” with certain exemptions for news media, cable and streaming providers.

Adult content industry group Free Speech Coalition has attempted to frame the issue as a question of (you guessed it) free speech. It’s an approach that has worked for the similarly litigious NetChoice, the trade lobby for Silicon Valley’s biggest companies and the lead on a series of suits that aim to quash age assurance laws for social media platforms.

However, echoing a recent opinion from the U.S. Supreme Court, Williams says age assurance laws don’t mean adults aren’t free to watch whatever porn they want – it just might take more effort than a few clicks. “You can go on and purchase your old school DVDs and watch your pornography at home,” he says, drawing the comparison to age restrictions on physical sales of adult content.

The porn lobby also often insists that age verification won’t stop kids from watching porn, because they’ll just go to worse sites that house all manner of illegality, or use virtual private networks (VPNs) to mask IP addresses and bypass firewalls. Ohio has countered with a provision that uses geofences and geolocation to block users outside the state.

Aylo, which owns Pornhub, has done its own blocking, shutting the site down in 17 states where age assurance laws have taken effect. Most recently, it blacked out users in France, after a court lifted a suspension on that country’s age verification law. It could follow suit in Ohio, leaving adult users hanging.

Meanwhile, Williams says the bill won’t impact social media sites. In April, NetChoice celebrated a win in Ohio, announcing a permanent block of age verification under the Parental Notification by Social Media Operators Act. However, Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost is appealing the decision with a filing in the Southern District of Ohio aiming for the 6th Circuit court.

Article Topics

age assurance standard  |  age verification  |  biometrics  |  identity verification  |  legislation  |  Ohio  |  United States