Ohio lawmakers rewrite a bill to force adult websites to enforce age verification in the state

Ohio Republican lawmakers recently updated the bill that went into effect in 2025 to require Pornhub and other pornographic websites to follow the law by forcing them to verify the ages and identities of people trying to access the website in the state.

Aylo, Pornhub’s parent company, even admitted on Tuesday to the Statehouse News Bureau that House Bill 96 doesn’t affect the website and that the pornographers have been able to do business in the Buckeye State as they’ve been doing before.

A reworked version of House Bill 84, called “Innocence Act” by its sponsors, state Reps. Steve Demetriou, R-Bainbridge Twp., and Rep. Josh Williams, R-Sylvania Twp., could finally force Pornhub and other sites to comply with the law.

The lawmakers collaborated with Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost on changes, Demetriou told the Statehouse News Bureau.

News 5 Cleveland reported that a person would need to verify their age by submitting a photo of their state ID or entering their personal information into a third-party system that would then use online or government databases to confirm they are legally an adult.

Williams told News 5 Cleveland that the law could also use geofences and geolocation to block children from accessing porn websites, adding that this will make it harder to use virtual private networks, also known as VPNs, which mask your IP address and let you bypass firewalls.

Demetriou said that the bill will financially penalize porn websites by forcing them to pay up to $100,000 each day for not following the law.

“This is not good stuff,” Demetriou told Statehouse News Bureau. “To consume at such a young age, I think it’s been a bane in our society, and I’m really excited just as a dad, obviously as a legislator, to stand with Ohio parents and make sure we rid ourselves of this scourge.”

The Aylo spokesperson told Statehouse News Bureau that Pornhub believes in age verification—but on devices, rather than on sites. The spokesperson also told News 5 Cleveland that the bill will backfire because people will just find porn websites that don’t “even moderate content.”

Demetriou, however, told News 5 Cleveland that this kind of response is expected from a company that sells pornography.

“Their business model is to get as many eyeballs in the easiest way possible on their content that they’re distributing,” he said.

Some Ohioans also told News 5 Cleveland that they are concerned about the bill, saying that the personal data that a person submits to access the website could be leaked by hackers and used by anyone, including local law enforcement.

As of Thursday, Arizona, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, North Carolina, North Dakota, Oklahoma, South Catolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Virginia, and Wyoming are the states that are currently requiring people to verify that they are adults to get access to porn websites, accoridng to Kindbridge Behavioral Science.