Attorney General Hanaway Moves to Protect Children From Online Pornographic Sites With Age-Verification Rule

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. – Today, Missouri Attorney General Catherine Hanaway announced that the state’s new age-verification regulation will soon take effect, marking a major victory for Missouri families. Promulgated by the Missouri Attorney General’s Office under the Missouri Merchandising Practices Act, the rule requires pornographic sites to implement robust age-verification measures or face enforcement action under Missouri law.

“This rule is a milestone in our effort to protect Missouri children from the devastating harms of online pornography,” said Attorney General Hanaway. “We are holding powerful corporations accountable, respecting women and victims of human trafficking, and helping ensure that minors are shielded from dangerous, sexually explicit material.”

The regulation, effective November 30, 2025, applies to commercial websites and platforms where one-third or more of the content is pornographic or sexually explicit and requires covered websites to deploy age-verification tools to ensure minors cannot access prohibited material. Failure to comply constitutes an “unfair practice” under the Missouri Merchandising Practices Act, making violators subject to civil penalties and injunctive relief.

Research shows that the average age of first exposure to pornography is just 11 or 12 years old, with more than 90 percent of boys and 60 percent of girls encountering it by their teenage years. Much of this material is violent, degrading, and explicitly misogynistic. It can warp young minds, fuel sexual exploitation, undermine healthy relationships, and contribute to human trafficking. Studies also show that pornography can have neurological effects comparable to addictive substances, leaving adolescents especially vulnerable to long-term harm.

Faced with these realities, the Attorney General’s Office acted decisively, promulgating this rule to give parents real tools to shield Missouri children and to make clear that pornography distributors and the tech platforms hosting them will no longer operate without guardrails.

“If these companies want to profit off explicit material in Missouri, they will not get a free pass,” Attorney General Hanaway said. “They must prove their users are adults or they will be shut out of our state.”