Age verification for websites distributing material harmful to minors (civil liability and Attorney General enforcement)
LA Adult Website Age Verification
Children · Data security
Requires commercial pornography websites to use reasonable age verification, such as Louisiana's digitized ID (LA Wallet) or a commercial system using government ID or transactional data, before granting access. Neither the site nor its verification vendor may retain the user's identifying information after access is granted. The 2022 law created a private damages remedy; a 2023 law added Attorney General enforcement with daily civil penalties.
- Where
- Louisiana
- Citation
- La. R.S. 9:2800.29 (Acts 2022, No. 440); La. R.S. 51:2121 (Acts 2023, No. 216)
- Status
- In force
- In force since
- 2023-01-01
- Last amended
- 2023-08-01
- Enforced by
- Private plaintiffs (R.S. 9:2800.29); Louisiana Attorney General (R.S. 51:2121)
- People can sue
- Yes
- Penalties
- Civil damages, costs, and attorney fees to individuals for a minor's access or for retaining identifying information (R.S. 9:2800.29). AG civil penalties up to $5,000 per day of violation plus up to $10,000 per knowing violation, and investigation costs, after at least 30 days to comply (R.S. 51:2121).
- Applies to
- Commercial entities that knowingly and intentionally publish or distribute material harmful to minors on the internet from a website where more than one-third of the material is harmful to minors
- Third parties performing age verification for such entities (data retention ban)
- Excludes bona fide news organizations and ISPs, search engines, and cloud providers acting as conduits
Practices it requires
- Perform reasonable age verification (digitized ID card or a commercial age verification system using government ID or transactional data) before allowing access to material harmful to minors.La. R.S. 9:2800.29(B)(1), (D); La. R.S. 51:2121(A)(1) · Only if: Sites where more than 33 1/3% of content is material harmful to minors
Security duties
- The site and any third-party verifier must not retain any identifying information of the individual after access has been granted; knowing retention creates liability to the individual.La. R.S. 9:2800.29(B)(2), (B)(3)(b)
Sources
- Official text
- La. R.S. 9:2800.29 (Louisiana Legislature)
- La. R.S. 51:2121 (Louisiana Legislature)
- Free Speech Coalition, Inc. v. LeBlanc, No. 2:23-cv-02123 (E.D. La.) docket (CourtListener)
Checked against these sources on 2026-09-25 by research agent (Claude), primary sources.
Unverified: Free Speech Coalition v. LeBlanc (E.D. La.) was dismissed for lack of standing on October 4, 2023 (per secondary reports; docket not read in full). The Supreme Court upheld Texas's comparable law in Free Speech Coalition v. Paxton (2025). | Act 2023 No. 216 effective date (August 1, 2023 default) not confirmed; the history note shows no effective date. | Acts 2026, No. 618 (HB 134, adds R.S. 9:2717.2.1, eff. Jan. 1, 2027) separately bars interactive computer services from showing their own harmful-to-minors material to minor accounts; treated as a content law and not listed separately.
Research reference, not legal advice.