JEFFERSON CITY — A new age verification rule going into effect in Missouri could be challenged in court by a trade association representing the adult entertainment industry.
Just days after Missouri Attorney General Catherine Hanaway announced the rules would go into effect Nov. 30, the Free Speech Coalition said it is waiting to review a final draft of the regulations before determining if litigation will be necessary.
“We’re certainly looking at a potential challenge in Missouri. The rules were drafted without any real legislative debate or input and there are huge issues with them legally and technically,” said Mike Stabile, director of public policy for the nonprofit.
Hanaway, a Republican appointed to the post by Gov. Mike Kehoe in August, announced last week that the regulations drafted during former Attorney General Andrew Bailey’s tenure will require pornographic websites to implement “robust age-verification measures” or face law enforcement action under the state’s consumer protection laws.
“This rule is a milestone in our effort to protect Missouri children from the devastating harms of online pornography,” Hanaway said. “We are holding powerful corporations accountable, respecting women and victims of human trafficking, and helping ensure that minors are shielded from dangerous, sexually explicit material.”
The regulation applies to commercial websites and platforms where one-third or more of the content is pornographic or sexually explicit and requires covered websites to deploy age-verification tools to ensure minors cannot access prohibited material.
The regulation requires age verification to be performed using digital identification methods or government-issued IDs.
Bailey filed the new rules in June after the U.S. Supreme Court upheld an age verification law in Texas that had been challenged by the Free Speech Coalition.
“The power to require age verification is within a state’s authority to prevent children from accessing sexually explicit content,” the high court said in its 6-3 decision.
Efforts to enact an age verification law in Missouri have fizzled in the Legislature in the past two years.
In February, the House gave preliminary approval to an age verification measure sponsored by Rep. Sherri Gallick, R-Belton, but the legislation did not advance to the Senate before lawmakers adjourned in May.
During committee hearings, gay rights and transgender advocates testified that the changes proposed in Gallick’s proposal could lead to censorship of information about sexual orientation and gender identity.
Opponents also testified that requiring internet users to scan their face or upload their driver’s license to an unfamiliar vendor discourages most visitors from complying, even if they are adults.
The decision by the attorney general to move forward on the regulations without a state law in place is seen as executive branch overreach by opponents.
Stabile said the group’s members are concerned about the privacy of internet users who must enter personal information to access certain websites.
“Nearly everyone in Missouri would be affected by these regulations, and even a simple Google search could require a facial scan,” he said. “That’s a huge amount of government power and potential surveillance over our ability to access the internet. I just don’t believe anyone realizes how invasive these types of laws are until they go into effect.”
The organization said similar regulations in other jurisdictions have resulted in an uptick in the use of virtual private networks, or VPNs, which route internet connections through a remote server, allowing users to bypass restrictions like those planned for Missouri.
“We won’t be encouraging the use of VPNs, but in every place that these laws have been passed, VPN use has spiked,” Stabile said.
Hanaway said the rule will limit the age of exposure to pornography, helping parents shield children from content meant for adults.
“If these companies want to profit off explicit material in Missouri, they will not get a free pass,” Hanaway said. “They must prove their users are adults or they will be shut out of our state.”
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Kurt Erickson | Post-Dispatch
Jefferson City reporter
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