Age verification and liability for publishing material harmful to minors (2024 SB 1959)
OK Age Verification Law
Children · Other
Makes commercial pornography websites liable to minors, through their parents, unless they use reasonable age verification (a digitized state ID, a third-party verification database, or transactional data). Sites must also offer Internet and cellular subscribers a free option to block the site on their subscriptions. Verifiers may not retain identifying information once access is granted.
- Where
- Oklahoma
- Citation
- 15 O.S. §§ 791-791.4 (Laws 2024, c. 181, SB 1959)
- Status
- In force
- In force since
- 2024-11-01
- Last amended
- 2025-11-01
- Enforced by
- Private civil actions by minors (through parents or guardians) and adults; Oklahoma Attorney General (injunctive relief and compliance guidance)
- People can sue
- Yes
- Penalties
- Nominal and actual damages, court costs, attorney fees, and punitive damages where the general standard is met; class actions allowed. Entities that retain identifying information after verification are liable to the individual for resulting damages, costs, and fees.
- 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-party age verification providers (data retention limit)
- Excludes bona fide news organizations and ISPs, search engines, and cloud providers that merely provide access
Practices it requires
- Use reasonable age verification (digitized ID card, independent third-party verification against commercial databases, or transactional-data method) to confirm users are 18 or older; doing so is a defense to liability.15 O.S. §§ 791(12), 791.2(G)
- Before access, give Internet and cellular service subscribers the opportunity to request that access to the site be blocked on their subscription, and block it free of charge upon request.15 O.S. § 791.2(A)-(B)
Security duties
- Commercial entities and third-party verifiers must not retain any identifying information of the individual after access is granted, except as reasonably necessary to carry out a block request.15 O.S. § 791.2(H)-(I)
Other duties
- Commercial entities that knowingly publish obscene material or child sexual abuse or exploitation material online are liable to individuals for damages, costs, and fees.15 O.S. § 791.1
Sources
- Official text
- Oklahoma Statutes Title 15 (complete title PDF, Oklahoma Legislature), §§ 791-791.4
- SB 1959 (2024) bill history, approved by Governor 04/26/2024 (Oklahoma Legislature)
Checked against these sources on 2026-09-25 by research agent (Claude), primary sources.
Unverified: No federal or state court challenge to the Oklahoma law was found in a web search; court dockets were not searched directly. Free Speech Coalition v. Paxton (U.S. 2025) upheld a comparable Texas law under intermediate scrutiny. | The 2025 amendment (Laws 2025, c. 29, SB 53) to the definitions in § 791 was not read in the session law; it appears to update CSAM terminology.
Research reference, not legal advice.