On April 1, 2026, KCUR and STLPR reported that the Missouri legislature is advancing multiple bills simultaneously targeting both adult content access and AI-generated intimate imagery of minors. The leading age verification bill has passed the House and moved to the Senate, requiring adults to upload identification documents to access websites with at least one-third pornographic content. Separately, two bills criminalizing AI-generated intimate depictions of minors are advancing — one has passed committee and another has been "perfected" (finalized) and awaits a final House hearing.

Why It Matters

Missouri's twin-track approach — advancing age verification and AI deepfake regulation simultaneously — represents a legislative template that other states are likely to follow. The combination recognizes that generative AI has created an entirely new category of harm that existing obscenity and content access laws don't address. For the sex tech industry, the proliferating patchwork of state-level requirements (now in 25+ states) creates compliance complexity that only the largest platforms can navigate, effectively functioning as a barrier to entry for smaller adult content operations.

The legislative push builds on existing enforcement. Attorney General Catherine Hanaway is already enforcing an age verification rule adopted from predecessor Andrew Bailey's April 2025 executive action, which has prompted Pornhub to block Missouri users entirely — following the same geo-blocking playbook Aylo has deployed in Australia, the UK, France, and over 20 U.S. states. Republican Rep. Wendy Hausman's "Taylor Swift Act" would provide civil remedies for deepfake victims, while another bill by Rep. Melissa Schmidt would mandate age verification for AI chatbots and criminalize bots that encourage violence, self-harm, or solicit minors.

Missouri joins more than half of U.S. states that have enacted or are advancing age verification legislation, emboldened by the Supreme Court's 2025 ruling in Free Speech Coalition v. Paxton that made adult content age verification constitutional.

Sources

Update — 2026-04-03

Initial entry — story first created.

Update — 2026-04-08

Missouri's AI and age verification bills have hit an unexpected snag. On April 7, the Missouri Independent reported that the legislative package has stalled in the Senate amid fears it could jeopardize nearly $900 million in federal broadband funding for rural internet expansion. Senators worry that provisions in the bills — particularly the broad age verification mandates — could create compliance conflicts with federal broadband deployment requirements, potentially disqualifying the state from critical infrastructure funds. The House-passed age verification bill and the "Taylor Swift Act" (providing civil remedies for deepfake victims) both have bipartisan support but face an uncertain path as the session nears adjournment. Pornhub continues to block Missouri users preemptively. The stall illustrates a recurring tension in state-level internet regulation: the collision between content-governance ambitions and the practical realities of federal telecommunications funding structures.

New Sources

Update — 2026-04-26

The Missouri House revived the package on April 20 with a fresh push around HB 2381, sponsored by Rep. Adam Schwadron, that would make it a felony to share or threaten to share an AI-generated or other digital depiction of someone to harass, threaten, or harm them. The maximum penalty is four years in prison; ten years if the image depicts a minor. The bill bundles deepfake criminalization with broader social-media youth restrictions, attempting to thread the needle around the federal broadband-funding concerns that stalled the package on April 7.

The April 20 maneuver reflects a national pattern flagged in Ballotpedia's tracker: 15 deepfake bills have been enacted nationally so far in 2026, and 46 states now have laws targeting AI-generated media in some form. Missouri's twin-track strategy — sex-content age verification plus minor-deepfake felony statute — has now been adopted in some form by Tennessee (registry: xai-grok-tennessee-teens-deepfake-suit), Oregon and Washington (registry: states-regulate-ai-companion-chatbots), Minnesota (registry: minnesota-nudification-ban-bill), and South Dakota (registry: south-dakota-deepfake-felony). The deadline pressure is real: the Missouri legislative session ends May 16, leaving roughly three weeks to send anything to Gov. Kehoe's desk.

New Sources

Update — 2026-05-25

Done deal. On May 13, 2026, the Missouri House voted 112-25 to approve Senate-amended HB 1839, the state's age verification bill sponsored by Rep. Sherri Gallick (R-Belton). The bill now heads to Governor Mike Kehoe and is widely expected to be signed — Republicans hold a supermajority in both chambers and the executive branch. The legislation codifies the existing AG-enforced age verification rule into state law, requiring websites to use third-party age verification providers with fines up to $250,000 per violation if a minor accesses sexual material. Pornhub continues to geo-block Missouri users. Missouri becomes the latest state to legislatively lock in age verification requirements following the Supreme Court's 2025 constitutional validation, joining 25+ states with enacted laws. The broadband-funding concerns that stalled the legislative package in April were ultimately resolved without materially weakening the bill's scope.

New Sources

Update — 2026-05-27

Missouri's age verification squeeze is now operational. Attorney General Catherine Hanaway's rule requiring age verification on sites where more than one-third of content is sexually explicit has been in force since December 2025, and a bill from Rep. Sherri Gallick headed to Governor Mike Kehoe in May 2026 would codify it in state law. Pornhub, YouPorn, Tube8, and RedTube immediately blocked new registrations in Missouri, joining the now-23-state blackout map. Existing logged-in users can still access content, but new Missouri users cannot create accounts.

The Missouri bill requires websites to use third-party age verification providers — a key difference from some states that allow self-certification. Governor Kehoe is expected to sign. Missouri joins a tightening national belt: with 25 states now mandating some form of age gating, the U.S. Supreme Court's 2025 ruling in Free Speech Coalition v. Paxton has effectively greenlit the nationwide rollout.

New Sources