Missouri’s age-verification regulation, 15 CSR 60-18, will go into effect on Sunday, November 30. 

Under Missouri regulation, any site with 33 1/3% material harmful to minors is required to age-verify visitors. Approved methods include digital identification, government-issued ID, or a commercially reasonable system that verifies age using public or private transactional data. However, an operator may propose an alternative method if it can show it is equally effective.

Violations of the rule are considered “an unfair, deceptive, fraudulent, or otherwise unlawful practice” under the Missouri Merchandising Practices Act. Offenses committed “with the intent to defraud” are classified as a Class E felony. Each access to a non-compliant site counts as a separate violation, capped at $10,000 per day. No private civil suits are authorized.

Businesses that may fall under the regulation should review the full text, be aware of the risks and take precautions to protect themselves from potential liability. For more information about this and other age-verification laws, check out FSC’s Age Verification FAQ. 

Earlier this year, FSC published Compliance with U.S. Age Verification Laws: A Toolkit for Adult Websites to provide companies with practical, rights-protective guidance in a rapidly evolving legal environment. A new version is now released, reflecting new legal developments and feedback from stakeholders who've put the toolkit into practice. Learn more at freespeechcoalition.com/toolkit.

“‘Platform-based verification has been like Prohibition,’ says Mike Stabile, director of public policy at the Free Speech Coalition. ‘We're seeing consumer behavior reroute away from legal, compliant sites to foreign sites that don't comply with any regulations or laws. Age verification laws have effectively rerouted a massive river of consumers to sites with pirated content, revenge porn, and child sex abuse material.’” Read more on Wired...

Yoti reported a 55% jump in revenue this year, driven by new age-verification requirements under the UK’s Online Safety Act and similar pushes abroad. The company, which partners with major porn platforms, says regulatory expansion in the UK, France, and Australia is fueling rapid growth in identity and facial-age-estimation services. Despite the surge, Yoti remains loss-making and carries more than £100m in debt, including an HSBC facility it will need to refinance by 2026. Read more on CityAM...

Three months into the UK’s age-verification mandate, adult users report a mix of reduced porn use, shifting habits, and widespread reliance on VPNs to avoid handing over ID. While a small number say the added “friction” helped them cut back or seek out paid, ethical content, many have simply moved to unregulated or riskier sites. Experts warn this displacement undermines the law’s goals and may expose both adults and young people to less safe corners of the internet. Read more on Cosmopolitan...

Lawmakers in Wisconsin and Michigan are pushing bills that would effectively ban VPN use by requiring websites to block anyone connected through a VPN—an impossible technical demand that risks cutting off businesses, students, journalists, and vulnerable people from essential privacy tools. Wisconsin’s A.B. 105/S.B. 130 also attempts to radically expand the definition of “harmful to minors,” sweeping in protected speech ranging from sex education to LGBTQ+ health resources. Experts warn the proposal won’t stop minors from accessing content, but will undermine digital privacy, drive censorship, and set a dangerous precedent for government control over how people access the internet. Read more on EFF...

UK lawmakers are advancing a sweeping set of amendments that would criminalize possessing or publishing porn that depicts consensual choking, alongside new restrictions that could punish BDSM creators, platforms, and even users. The proposals go far beyond “protection,” sweeping in AI-generated content, retroactive consent rules, bans on adults role-playing as minors, and measures that could treat hosting sex-work ads or paying for a webcam performance as felony-level offenses. Critics warn the legislation polices private sexual expression, misunderstands BDSM and breath play, and risks massive censorship with little connection to actual safety. Read more on Reason...