DES MOINES, Iowa—Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds, a conservative Republican, signed into law Iowa's age verification bill on Monday, which specifically targets pornography websites, along with other bills passed during the state's legislative session that ended on May 3.
As AVN reported previously, the Iowa Senate voted unanimously to advance a revised version of House File (HF) 864, which targets porn websites and platforms with prescribed amounts of content considered "harmful to minors."
HF 864 is now "an act requiring persons who operate certain internet sites, applications, or a segment of an internet site or application that contains material pornographic for minors to perform reasonable age verification."
HF 864 empowers the Iowa Attorney General’s Office, led by conservative Republican Brenna Bird, to enforce provisions within the bill. Of note, the websites and platforms subject to the bill would face penalties of up to $10,000 for each violation.
"The attorney general may bring a civil action to provide for civil penalties in an amount not more than $100,000" if the platform defies a legal injunction, per the bill.
As is standard for bills similar to HF 864 in other states, third-party "reasonable" age verification providers can be adopted by the parent companies of online pornography platforms. These companies cannot hold on to data obtained through verification, but must present any necessary data if ordered by a state court.
