State Requires Government-ID Age Checks Under the MMPA
Missouri’s age-verification mandate will take effect this weekend, restricting access to Pornhub and other adult platforms for users in the state. Beginning November 30, amendments to the Missouri Merchandising Practices Act (MMPA) require sites hosting sexually explicit content to prevent minors from accessing their material through a commercially available age-verification tool. Platforms must verify age using government-issued identification or another approved method, and noncompliance can result in fines of up to $10,000 per day.
Missouri Attorney General Catherine Hanaway said in September that the policy is intended to hold large online platforms accountable while addressing concerns over exposure to explicit material, exploitation, and human trafficking.
Aylo’s Response to New State-Level Requirements
Missouri joins 23 states with similar laws. Supporters say these measures are designed to keep minors away from pornography, while critics — including Pornhub parent company Aylo — argue that age checks should be conducted at the device level rather than on each website. Aylo has blocked access to its sites, including Pornhub, YouPorn, RedTube, and Brazzers, in every state with such requirements, and Missouri is among them.
The company contends that site-by-site verification requires sensitive personal information, which could expose users to privacy risks. The legal landscape shifted in July when the Supreme Court declined to intervene in a lawsuit challenging Texas’s age-verification law, leaving state-level restrictions in place and forcing Aylo to determine how to adapt.
Debate Extends to Platforms and International Regulations
Aylo recently sent letters to Apple, Google, and Microsoft, saying that age verification would be more appropriate at the operating-system level. In the UK, the company plans to adopt “methods recognized by regulators as being capable of highly effective age assurance” to comply with the Online Safety Act. Still, it said the effectiveness of age-verification tools remains limited and that enforcement at scale across the digital ecosystem is difficult.
Workarounds for Blocked Adults
Adults who encounter access restrictions can still use a VPN to circumvent the state-based blocks, though the law itself only applies to platforms and not to individual users.
Featured image credits: Zulfugar Karimov via Unsplash
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