Privacy Law Library

Age Verification for Online Access to Materials Harmful to Minors; Anonymous Age Verification

Florida Age Verification Law

Children · Data security

Enacted in HB 3 (2024), this law requires adult sites to verify that visitors are 18 or older, and to offer both an anonymous and a standard verification method. It also limits what third-party anonymous age verifiers can do with the identifying information they receive: no retention after verification, no other use, no sharing, and reasonable security.

Where
Florida
Citation
Fla. Stat. 501.1737-501.1738
Status
In force
In force since
2025-01-01
Enforced by
Florida Department of Legal Affairs (Attorney General)
People can sue
Limited
Penalties
Civil penalty up to $50,000 per violation plus fees, and punitive damages for a consistent pattern; third-party verifiers that violate s. 501.1738 face the same penalty; a minor may recover up to $10,000 if the entity fails to block access after a report of unauthorized access (501.1737(5)).
Applies to
  • Commercial entities that knowingly and intentionally publish or distribute material harmful to minors on a website or app where more than 33.3% of the material is harmful to minors (501.1737(1)(j), (2))
  • Third parties that conduct anonymous age verification (501.1738(2))
  • Excludes bona fide news organizations, ISPs, search engines, and cloud providers that only provide access (501.1737(4))

Practices it requires

  • Verify that users are 18 or older before giving access to material harmful to minors, offering both anonymous and standard age verification and letting the user choose.Fla. Stat. 501.1737(2)
  • Anonymous age verification must be done by an independent U.S.-based third party not owned or controlled by a foreign company or government.Fla. Stat. 501.1738(1)
  • Third-party verifiers may not retain identifying information once age is verified, use it for any other purpose, or share it.Fla. Stat. 501.1738(2)(a)-(c)

Security duties

  • Third-party verifiers must protect identifying information with reasonable security procedures appropriate to its nature.Fla. Stat. 501.1738(2)(d)

Sources

Checked against these sources on 2026-09-25 by research agent (Claude), primary sources.

Unverified: Free Speech Coalition's challenge to s. 501.1737 was reportedly voluntarily dismissed in 2025 after Free Speech Coalition v. Paxton (U.S. 2025). This comes from secondary press (Florida Politics) and was not confirmed on the docket.

Research reference, not legal advice.