In a statement published Wednesday, the Free Speech Coalition (FSC) announced that an age-verification rule established in Missouri will not take effect August 30 as planned by the state’s legislature, due to a timeline required under state law.
“In May, the Missouri Attorney General published proposed age verification rules (15 CSR 60-18.010 through 15 CSR 60-18.070) in the Missouri Register,” FSC noted in the announcement. “Based on the state’s rulemaking timeline, FSC originally estimated the regulations could take effect as soon as August 30, 2025.
“However, the final rules were not published in time for the regulation to take effect on August 30th,” FSC added. “We do not yet know whether the regulation has continued to move through the state’s opaque rulemaking process, but it cannot go into force until 30 days after the final rule is published in the Code of State Regulations.”
FSC said that what this means for operators of adult websites is “no enforcement yet.”
“Businesses are not required to comply with the proposed rules until the Attorney General completes the rulemaking process and the rule goes into effect,” FSC said, adding that the timeline is “uncertain.”
“The Attorney General’s office has not provided a timeline, so it’s not clear if/when the final rule will be published,” FSC observed.
FSC said the organization will “continue tracking the situation closely and share updates as soon as a final rule is published or the deadlines elapse and the proposed rule becomes void.”
For more information from FSC concerning state age verification laws, see the Age Verification page on the FSC website and other FSC resources, including the AV Bill Tracker and Tools for Websites sections.
The FSC challenged a number of state age verification laws in recent years, but the Supreme Court’s ruling in the Free Speech Coalition v. Paxton case rendered these challenges moot. Adult website operators now face the need to comply with a patchwork of similar, but not identical, state laws around the country.
