Indiana law requiring stricter age verification for adult websites now in effect

A new Indiana law that requires websites with adult content to have stricter age verification is now in effect — weeks after a federal judge previously put it on hold.

A federal appeals court decided to let the law take effect while a separate case is dealt with by the U.S. Supreme Court.

The law, SEA 17, said websites on which at least one-third of their images and videos are “material harmful to minors” must verify their users’ ages with a mobile driver’s license or government ID — which Indiana doesn’t provide — or through a third-party age verification service.

A federal judge halted the law from taking effect in June, ruling it likely violated the First Amendment.

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But a virtually identical law in Texas was recently upheld by the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals. That case is headed to the U.S. Supreme Court.

And the Seventh Circuit, which handles appeals out of Indiana, said it’s putting the lawsuit over Indiana’s law on hold until the Supreme Court decides the Texas case.

In the meantime, the appellate court also halted the Indiana judge’s ruling and allowed the law to take effect.

Brandon is our Statehouse bureau chief. Contact him at bsmith@ipbs.org or follow him on Twitter at @brandonjsmith5.