In a statement published Tuesday, the Free Speech Coalition (FSC) announced the organization’s support for SB 2380, a North Dakota bill mandating device-based age-verification that would “enable adult websites to block minors from accessing their content while protecting the privacy and security of adult consumers,” according to FSC.
“Unlike the age-verification laws passed in other states, North Dakota’s bill requires the manufacturers of internet-enabled devices and operating systems to determine the age of the device’s primary user and provide a digital signal to inform websites whether that user is a minor,” FSC said in the statement. “Adult websites would be required to block access to users identified as minors, label their websites as restricted to adults, and provide a disclaimer that the site contains mature content. “
FSC Executive Director Alison Boden said the organization is “pleased that North Dakota legislators have put forward this common-sense solution to age-verification that protects adults and children alike.”
“The online adult entertainment industry overwhelmingly supports this approach because it gives them the tools to ensure that minors cannot access their content without sacrificing the privacy of adults,” Boden added.
FSC noted that device-based age-verification “does not require consumers to expose their personal identity or browsing habits to age-verification companies or governments and cannot be circumvented using simple workarounds such as VPNs.”
At oral arguments before the Supreme Court earlier this month in the case Free Speech Coalition v. Paxton, the FSC made similar points about the over and under-inclusivity of state age-verification laws which put the burden of age-verification on adult websites, like those at issue in the case before the court.
Representing the FSC and other petitioners in the case, attorney Derek Shaffer asserted that “content filtering today is technologically better than ever, more readily available than ever.”
“It’s employed by this court. It’s employed in workplaces throughout America,” Shaffer added. “And it’s agreed by the experts for both sides that it can work specifically in this context of parents protecting their kids.”
Under SB 2380, the proposed North Dakota bill, “covered manufacturers” are required to “take commercially reasonable and technically feasible steps to…determine or estimate the age of the primary user upon activation of a device and… provide a website, application, application store, or online service with a digital signal notifying if a primary user is over or under eighteen years of age through a real-time applications programming interface.”
Manufacturers subject to the law also would be required to “include in operating system updates the provisions” of the law for any device sold prior to the law’s effective date (August 1, 2026).
SB 2380 requires that when a “website, application, or online service makes available a substantial portion of mature content, the website, application, or online service shall… recognize and receive digital age signals and block access to the website, application, or online service if an age signal is received indicating a user is under eighteen years of age; provide a disclaimer that the website, application, or online service contains mature content; and label the website, application, or online service as restricted to adults.”
The bill also requires websites, applications and other online services that make available “less than a substantial portion of mature content” to “recognize and receive digital age signals and block access to any known mature content on the website, application, or online service if an age signal is received indicating a user is under eighteen years of age” and “provide a disclaimer the website, application, or online service contains mature content.”
The bill would also require covered manufacturers to “impose the same restrictions and obligations on a website, application, or online service as the covered manufacturer is required to impose on third parties.” The bill also states that a “covered manufacturer may not use any data collected under this section for any other purpose.”
You can read the full text of SB 2380 here.
Great Seal of North Dakota designed by Lili Stewart
