Creates provisions relating to age verification on adult websites

SECOND REGULAR SESSION
SENATE BILL NO. 901
103RD GENERAL ASSEMBLY
INTRODUCED BY SENATOR HENDERSON.
5428S.01I KRISTINA MARTIN, Secretary
AN ACT
To amend chapter 407, RSMo, by adding thereto one new section relating to age verification on
adult websites, with penalty provisions.
Be it enacted by the General Assembly of the State of Missouri, as follows:
Section A. Chapter 407, RSMo, is amended by adding thereto 1
one new section, to be known as section 407.3405, to read as 2
follows:3
407.3405. 1. As used in this section, the following 1
terms mean: 2
(1) "Age verification", a method by which a commercial 3
entity verifies the age of an individual by requiring the 4
individual to: 5
(a) Provide digital identification; or 6
(b) Comply with a commercial age verification system 7
that verifies age using: 8
a. Government-issued identification; or 9
b. A commercially reasonable method that relies on 10
public or private transactional data to verify the age of an 11
individual; 12
(2) "Commercial entity", a corporation, limited 13
liability company, partnership, limited partnership, sole 14
proprietorship, or other legally recognized business entity; 15
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(3) "Digital identification", information stored on a 16
digital network that may be accessed by a commercial entity 17
and that serves as proof of the identity of an individual; 18
(4) "Distribute", to issue, sell, give, provide, 19
deliver, transfer, transmute, circulate, or disseminate by 20
any means; 21
(5) "Minor", an individual younger than eighteen years 22
of age; 23
(6) "News-gathering organization": 24
(a) An employee of a newspaper, news publication, or 25
news source, printed or on an online or mobile platform, of 26
current news and public interest, who is acting within the 27
course and scope of that employment and can provide 28
documentation of that employment with the newspaper, news 29
publication, or news source; and 30
(b) An employee of a radio broadcast station, 31
television broadcast station, cable television operator, or 32
wire service who is acting within the course and scope of 33
that employment and can provide documentation of that 34
employment; 35
(7) "Publish", to communicate or make information 36
available to another person or entity on a publicly 37
available internet website; 38
(8) "Sexual material harmful to minors", any material 39
that: 40
(a) The average person applying contemporary community 41
standards would find, taking the material as a whole and 42
with respect to minors, is designed to appeal to or pander 43
to the prurient interest; or 44
(b) In a manner patently offensive with respect to 45
minors, exploits, is devoted to, or principally consists of 46
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descriptions of actual, simulated, or animated displays or 47
depictions of: 48
a. A person’s pubic hair, anus, or genitals or the 49
nipple of the female breast; 50
b. Touching, caressing, or fondling of nipples, 51
breasts, buttocks, anuses, or genitals; or 52
c. Sexual intercourse, masturbation, sodomy, 53
bestiality, oral copulation, flagellation, excretory 54
functions, exhibitions, or any other sexual act; and 55
(c) Taken as a whole, lacks serious literary, 56
artistic, political, or scientific value for minors; 57
(9) "Transactional data", a sequence of information 58
that documents an exchange, agreement, or transfer between 59
an individual, commercial entity, or third party used for 60
the purpose of satisfying a request or event. "Transactional 61
data" includes records from mortgage, education, and 62
employment entities. 63
2. A commercial entity that knowingly and 64
intentionally publishes or distributes material on an 65
internet website, including a social media platform, more 66
than one-third of which is sexual material harmful to 67
minors, shall use reasonable age verification methods to 68
verify that an individual attempting to access the material 69
is eighteen years of age or older. 70
3. A commercial entity that performs the age 71
verification or a third party that performs the age 72
verification under this section shall not retain any 73
identifying information of the individual. 74
4. A commercial entity required to use reasonable age 75
verification methods under this section shall: 76
(1) Display the following notices on its website and 77
all advertisements for the website on which sexual material 78
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harmful to minors is published or distributed in a fourteen- 79
point font or larger: 80
(2) Display the following notice at the bottom of 93
every page on the commercial entity's website in a fourteen- 94
point font or larger: 95
5. This section shall not apply to a bona fide news or 104
public interest broadcast, website video, report, or event 105
and shall not be construed to affect the rights of a news- 106
gathering organization. 107
6. An internet service provider, or its affiliates or 108
subsidiaries, a search engine, or a cloud service provider 109
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"(a) Pornography is potentially biologically
addictive, is proven to harm human brain
development, desensitizes brain reward circuits,
increases conditioned responses, and weakens brain
function;

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(b) Exposure to this content is associated with
low self-esteem and body image, eating disorders,
impaired brain development, and other emotional and
mental illnesses; and

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(c) Pornography increases the demand for
prostitution, child exploitation, and child
pornography."; and

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"U.S. SUBSTANCE ABUSE AND MENTAL HEALTH SERVICES
ADMINISTRATION THIS HELPLINE IS A FREE,
CONFIDENTIAL INFORMATION SERVICE (IN ENGLISH OR
SPANISH) OPEN 24 HOURS PER DAY, FOR INDIVIDUALS AND
FAMILY MEMBERS FACING MENTAL HEALTH OR SUBSTANCE
USE DISORDERS. THE SERVICE PROVIDES REFERRAL TO
LOCAL TREATMENT FACILITIES, SUPPORT GROUPS, AND
COMMUNITY-BASED ORGANIZATIONS."

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shall not be held to have violated provisions of this 110
section solely for providing access or connection to or from 111
a website or other information or content on the internet or 112
on a facility, system, or network not under that provider's 113
control, including transmission, downloading, intermediate 114
storage, access software, or other services to the extent 115
the provider or search engine is not responsible for the 116
creation of the content that constitutes sexual material 117
harmful to minors. 118
7. The attorney general shall enforce provisions of 119
this section. If the attorney general believes that a 120
commercial entity is knowingly violating or has knowingly 121
violated provisions of this section and the action is in the 122
public interest, the attorney general may bring an action in 123
a court of competent jurisdiction. If the court finds that 124
a violation occurred, the court may grant damages, 125
injunctive relief, civil penalties, court costs and 126
reasonable attorney fees, and any such other relief the 127
court finds appropriate. Civil penalties shall be as 128
follows: 129
(1) Ten thousand dollars per day that a commercial 130
entity operates a website in violation of the age 131
verification requirements under this section; 132
(2) Ten thousand dollars per instance when a 133
commercial entity retains identifying information in 134
violation of this section; and 135
(3) An additional amount of not more than two hundred 136
fifty thousand dollars if one or more minors accessed sexual 137
material harmful to minors in violation of the age 138
verification requirements under this section. 139
✓