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COLUMBUS, Ohio — Republican state representatives in the Ohio House of Representatives have advanced a revised age-verification bill intended to close what lawmakers describe as a loophole that allowed some adult websites to avoid implementing required age checks across the state’s digital space.
The age-verification bill, called the Innocence Act, was introduced by a bipartisan group of lawmakers led by Republican state Reps. Steve Demetriou and Josh Williams.
Demetriou previously introduced an earlier version of the Innocence Act that included criminal penalties for noncompliance and a misdemeanor charge for minors who successfully bypassed a content block. The current version of the bill removes those criminal provisions.
The House Technology and Innovation Committee voted unanimously to advance the measure, sending the Innocence Act (House Bill 84) to the House floor for debate and a vote.
House Bill 84 is expected to advance in the Senate without significant opposition and could be signed into law by Gov. Mike DeWine.
Demetriou and Williams said they worked with the office of Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost in drafting the legislation. The attorney general’s office is responsible for enforcing age-verification requirements against adult website owners and platforms that host a substantial amount of adult content.
Lawmakers have described the measure as a “redo” after Aylo, the parent company of Pornhub, interpreted the state’s original age-verification law as exempting “interactive computer services,” as defined by Section 230 of the federal Communications Decency Act of 1996, from Ohio’s civil enforcement authority related to age-gating.
Section 230 is a federal statute that provides liability protection for online platforms that host third-party content, shielding them from legal responsibility for material posted by users or other publishers.
According to the bill’s sponsors, House Bill 84 addresses that interpretation by clarifying enforcement authority. The updated measure establishes civil penalties instead of criminal sanctions, including fines of up to $100,000 per day for noncompliance.
The bill is currently before the House floor.
