After Pornhub’s brief exit, Missouri governor signs new age verification law
Missouri Gov. Mike Kehoe on Thursday signed into law age verification rules for pornography websites, marking the state’s most aggressive response to the adult industry.
The new law, which takes effect Aug. 28, requires websites to verify that users are adults if more than one-third of its content includes “sexual material harmful to minors.” Websites must use a third party to verify users’ ages, which could include users uploading a government-issued ID.
The legislation officially codifies into state law an administrative rule enforced late last year by Attorney General Catherine Hanaway. Pornhub, the adult industry’s most well-known website, briefly shut down access in the state in the wake of the rule, calling it ineffective and a risk to user privacy.
A Pornhub spokesperson did not respond to a request for comment about its status in Missouri, but the website appeared to be active with an age verification tool on Thursday. However, Hanaway touted the website’s exit in a statement on social media.
“This builds on our successful age-verification rule that led Pornhub to leave Missouri,” Hanaway said. “We’ll keep leading the fight to protect kids against sexually explicit imagery and hold pornographic websites accountable.”
Kehoe, a Republican, signed the new law and several other public safety-related bills in a closed-door ceremony at the Missouri Capitol on Thursday. Kehoe broadly touted a push to improve public safety in a statement announcing his signatures.
“The legislation I signed today strengthens the laws that protect our families, supports the men and women who serve our country and communities, and gives our state stronger tools to keep dangerous criminals off our streets,” Kehoe said.
Mike Stabile, the director of public policy for the Free Speech Coalition, which represents the sex industry, said the new law “doesn’t change much” for adult websites or for Missouri residents. Adult websites were already complying with the regulations, he said.
Stabile, however, called the Missouri requirements “a failure,” saying that they have driven users to access less regulated websites. The type of verification deployed by Missouri “does fairly little to prevent kids from accessing porn,” he said.
“Most people are no longer going to regulated sites, but foreign sites outside the reach of the state, or using a VPN to evade the restrictions,” Stabile said.
Stabile said a previous version of the rule issued by former Attorney General Andrew Bailey would have been more effective. That version included a “device-based” provision intended to prevent children from accessing devices used for dating apps, gambling or adult content.
Despite concerns over data privacy and the rule’s effectiveness, the legislation received support in the General Assembly. It passed the Senate on a vote of 32-0 and the House on a vote of 112-25. Twenty Democrats and five Republicans voted against it while another 11 Democrats voted “present.”
The law states that third parties conducting the age verification are prohibited from retaining identifying information from users.
Hanaway, the attorney general, will be tasked with enforcing the legislation by suing websites accused of violating the law. Websites would be at risk of civil penalties up to $10,000 for each day they operate without age verification checks and $10,000 if a third party retains identifying information from users.
Websites could also face up to $250,000 in penalties if people under the age of 18 access “sexual material harmful to minors.”
The legislation also includes a carve-out for media and news organizations and states that the requirements “shall not be construed to affect the rights of a newsgathering organization.” Internet service providers, search engines and cloud service providers would also be shielded from liability under the law.
The new law comes as other states have enacted sweeping age verification rules for adult websites, such as Texas, which passed similar legislation in 2023.
This story was originally published July 9, 2026 at 1:25 PM.
