ARIZONA POLITICS NEWS

Arizona Republicans back bill to require age verification for pornography websites

Jan 30, 2025, 1:55 PM

PHOENIX – A Republican-backed Arizona bill, if passed, would require pornography websites to verify the age of their users in the state.

Rep. Nick Kupper, a father of four, introduced HB2112, which the House Judiciary Committee advanced in a party-line vote on Wednesday.

The bill would require websites where more than one-third of the content is pornographic to use “reasonable” age verification methods to ensure that users are at least 18 years old.

“Right now, children can access explicit content with nothing more than the click of a button. That’s unacceptable,” Kupper said in a press release Thursday. “HB2112 puts common-sense guardrails in place, ensuring that pornography sites verify age before allowing access, just as we require for alcohol, tobacco and other adult materials.”

The verification can be through a digital ID or other commercial methods as long as they don’t store or transmit identifying data.

“If you’re making money off this content, you have a responsibility to ensure kids can’t get to it,” Kupper said.

What are the penalties in Arizona bill regulating pornography websites?

The Arizona bill, in its current form, would authorize the following penalties:

  • $10,000 per day for failure to comply with age verification.
  • $10,000 per instance of retaining identifying user data.
  • $250,000 if any minor accesses pornography due to an age verification violation.

Multiple other states have passed similar legislation, although not without facing lawsuits arguing that the requirements violate free speech rights ensured by the First Amendment.

The adult website Pornhub has been blocking access in states where the age verification laws are in effect, citing technical and privacy hurdles.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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Arizona Republicans back bill to require age verification for pornography websites