COLUMBUS, Ohio—Republican state representatives in the Ohio House of Representatives have further advanced a so-called "redo" age verification bill that would close a loophole that adult websites have exploited to circumvent requirements to deploy age-checks across the state's digital space.
The age-verification bill, dubbed the Innocence Act, was proposed by a bipartisan group of lawmakers led by Republican state Reps. Steve Demetriou and Josh Williams.
As AVN previously reported on age verification efforts in Ohio, Rep. Demetriou first introduced a previous version of the Innocence Act that imposed criminal penalties for noncompliance and a misdemeanor on minors who successfully circumvent a content block. The latest version of the bill doesn't include criminal provisions.
A unanimous vote in the House Technology and Innovation Committee advanced the measure, preparing the Innocence Act (House Bill 84) for a floor debate and vote.
It is likely House Bill 84 will advance without any major opposition in the Senate and will be signed into law by Gov. Mike DeWine.
Demetriou and Williams indicated that they collaborated with the office of Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost, who is tasked with the enforcement of age verification against adult website owners and platforms with a large portion of adult content.
The framing of this bill as a redo stems from Aylo, the parent company of Pornhub, having interpreted the initial age verification law as to exempt "interactive computer services" as defined by Section 230 of the federal Communications Decency Act of 1996 from Ohio's civil authority to enforce age gating.
Section 230 is a controversial statute that immunizes all web platforms that host third-party publishers, or users, from the liability of the content posted by those third parties.
House Bill (HB) 84 closes that loophole, the bill’s sponsors assert, per local reporting on the bill. The latest version of HB 84 puts in place civil violations, instead of criminal measures, that include fines as high as $100,000 each day for noncompliance.
The bill is currently before the House floor.
