7.5 million Arizonans will face new age-verification checks for adult content – and non-compliant websites could be hit with fines of $250,000 for every violation

Age verification laws in Arizona will come into effect on September 26, as users will now have to provide ID to view adult content. The bill requires publishers of content deemed "harmful to minors" to set up age verification processes to ensure only over-18s are accessing its content.

We have seen numerous examples of age verification laws in recent months, most notably the UK's Online Safety Act. These laws have often been subject to criticism as tools like the best VPNs appear to help users bypass them with ease. Supporters of Arizona's bill say it is about protecting minors from harm, while its opponents cite privacy and security risks surrounding the collection of personal data.

Implement age verification or face fines

House Bill 2112 states "reasonable age verification methods" must be employed by commercial entities if more than one-third of their content can be seen as "harmful to minors."

The bill says an "individual's identifying information" mustn't be transmitted – either directly or indirectly – to any "federal, state, or local government entity." Government-issued ID or "a commercially reasonable method" may be used to verify age, but the age-verification service must not "retain any identifying information of the individual."

News-gathering organisations are exempt from the rules. In the UK, there were reports of news channels being affected by age-verification requests and having content incorrectly censored.

Fines may be handed out to companies who don't comply with the bill, and parents of minors can bring legal cases against offending organizations. The bill says parents of minors who access harmful material have a "right of action against the offending entity."

This also applies to anyone whose information is retained or transmitted as a result of "an entity's violation" of the bill.

$10,000 per-day penalties can be handed out to sites that violate age verification requirements. Violating identifiable information retention and transmission rules can see penalties of $10,000 per instance.

If a minor accesses harmful content as a result of these violations, penalties of up to $250,000 can be imposed.

The bill was proposed by Republican representative Nick Kupper and first read on January 21, 2025. On May 13, it was signed into law by Arizona's Democrat governor, Katie Hobbs.

Personal data at risk

This bill, and others like it, have left many asking if age verification companies can be trusted with our data. There are various cybersecurity risks posed by age verification checks and experts have said the laws are "a disaster waiting to happen."

Data breaches, identity theft, fraud, and realistic phishing scams could all occur once our data is handed over.

In a statement provided to FOX 10 Phoenix, adult-entertainment distributor, Aylo, said it has "supported age verification of users for years." However, it added that any law "must preserve user safety and privacy, and must effectively protect children from accessing content intended for adults."

"Any regulations that require hundreds of thousands of adult sites to collect significant amounts of highly sensitive personal information is putting user safety in jeopardy," it said.

According to the Free Speech Coalition (FSC) and its Age Verification Bill Tracker, 22 US states currently have age verification laws in effect. In addition, Arizona, Ohio, and Missouri have passed laws, but they are yet to come into effect.

The FSC has said it "whole-heartedly supports the goal of protecting young people from material that is age-inappropriate or harmful." However, it cited "practical, technical, and legal problems with the current proposals being put forward by state legislatures."

These included the fact users may not be comfortable with sharing personal data, the risk of data breaches, impact on free speech and expression, and the use of VPNs in bypassing age checks.

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