House Bill 295, which had its first hearing this month in the House Criminal Justice Committee, is the latest of a series of steps Ohio officials have taken to put a buffer in between minors and harmful online content.
It follows a similar age-verification proposal that hasn’t gotten off the ground in the Senate; Lt. Gov. Jon Husted’s initiative (blocked by courts) that requires minors to receive parental consent before creating a social media account; and Gov. Mike DeWine’s call to get smartphones out of classrooms across the state.
Age verification
Under HB 295, porn sites and any site that hosts content that is “obscene or harmful to juveniles on the internet” — defined under Ohio law largely as either sexually explicit or violent content — would be obligated to verify the age of its users.
This would mean that Ohio adults would have to upload either a government-issued photo ID or “transactional data” in order to access porn online.
“Our children need to be protected from the dangers of materials that are obscene and harmful to them,” said bill primary sponsor Rep. Steve Demetriou, R-Bainbridge Twp., who told the committee that underage exposure to pornography has been linked to sexual aggression and social isolation and likened the age verification portion of the law to the adults-only section of video rental stores of a bygone era.
Porn sites that don’t verify the age of its users would face a first degree misdemeanor. In the scenario where a minor falsifies their way past the age verification, that company would be protected under the law, so long as they made a “bona fide” attempt to actually verify the user’s age. Porn sites that do verify the age of its users would be forbidden from holding onto the user’s personal information for more than 30 days.
Violations of either mandate would result in a third degree felony, according to an analysis conducted by the nonpartisan Legislative Services Commission.
As for the minors who fake their way into the site, they’d face a fourth degree misdemeanor under the law, on par with the charge they’d face if they had falsified their way into a strip club in Ohio, Demetriou said.
Deepfake crimes
The bill also attempts to tackle “deepfake” pornography, which is the result of using AI technology to superimpose a person’s face onto a pornographic image or video, a growing problem as the technology becomes more available.
To combat it, H.B. 295 would create the “nonconsensual dissemination of fabricated sexual images” offense, a third degree felony. Under the law, it would be illegal to disseminate such content if it had been modified to depict another person that is recognizable; if the person depicted is in a state of nudity or engaged in a sexual act; and if the image had been shared without consent from the person depicted in the content.
Additionally, the bill would allow any victim of deepfake porn to open a civil lawsuit against the offender in order to recover compensatory damages.
What’s to come
So far, the bill has garnered support among 23 lawmakers; 22 of which are Republican. It’s had input from the Ohio Department of Public Safety, the Ohio Attorney General, the Ohio Casino Control Commission, and the Ohio Prosecuting Attorneys Association, indicating broad appeal.
If more hearings are held on the bill, legislators will hear from proponents and opponents alike.
There are now eight states that have required porn sites to verify the age of its users, and some 20 others that are considering similar legislation. In several states with similar bills on the books, providers like PornHub have blocked all users from that state from accessing its website.
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Avery Kreemer can be reached at 614-981-1422, on X, via email, or you can drop him a comment/tip with the survey below.
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