Establishes provisions relating to civil liability for publishing or distributing material harmful to minors on the internet
HB 3015 would create a new section of Missouri law requiring commercial entities that knowingly publish or distribute online material that is more than one-third sexual material harmful to minors to use reasonable age-verification methods before allowing access. The bill defines age verification broadly, including digital identification, government-issued ID, or commercially reasonable methods using transactional data. It also defines key terms such as commercial entity, minor, publish, distribute, and sexual material harmful to minors, and it includes an exception for bona fide news or public-interest content.
The bill also bars the age-verification provider or third party from retaining identifying information from users. Internet service providers, search engines, and cloud service providers are shielded from liability solely for providing access or transmission services to content they do not create. Enforcement would rest with the attorney general, who could seek damages, injunctions, civil penalties, court costs, and attorney’s fees. The bill sets specific penalties, including $10,000 per day for operating a noncompliant website, $10,000 per instance for retaining identifying information, and up to $250,000 if minors access harmful material because of a violation.
HB 3015 would add a new consumer-protection and online-content regulation provision to Chapter 407, RSMo, creating a civil-liability framework for websites and social media platforms that host substantial amounts of sexual material harmful to minors. It would impose compliance obligations on affected commercial entities, while expressly limiting liability for news organizations and for internet infrastructure providers that merely transmit or host content without creating it. The bill would also expand the attorney general’s enforcement authority in this area and establish significant civil penalties for noncompliance.
Based on the bill text and the absence of recorded committee testimony or votes in the provided materials, the overall sentiment appears to be supportive of restricting minors’ access to explicit online content and imposing accountability on websites that host such material. The structure of the bill suggests a policy focus on child protection, privacy, and enforcement against commercial websites rather than on broad internet regulation. No recorded debate, amendments, or vote totals are available here to indicate organized opposition or support levels.
The main points of contention likely involve the scope and enforceability of the age-verification mandate, especially for websites and social media platforms that may be covered if more than one-third of their content is deemed harmful to minors. Privacy advocates may object to requiring users to submit identification or transactional data, even though the bill prohibits retention of identifying information. Another likely area of dispute is the breadth of the definition of sexual material harmful to minors and whether it could affect lawful adult content, online speech, or platform operations. The bill attempts to limit some concerns by exempting bona fide news/public-interest content and protecting ISPs, search engines, and cloud providers from liability for merely providing access.