Law / United States / 
Florida
HB 3 (2024), age verification for material harmful to minors
Fla. Stat. Secs. 501.1737, 501.1738
In force since .
An adult content age verification (AV) rule binding private bodies.
- Audit expectation
- none
What it requires
- Applies to you only if more than one third of the material on your website is harmful to minors.
- Perform reasonable age verification, confirming a visitor is 18 or older, before granting access, using a standard method or an anonymous age verification service that the visitor selects.
These lines are LexLint's reading of the law's text.
If you get it wrong
Criminal exposureNo
Private right of actionYes
Penalties
Civil penalties up to $50,000 per violation, plus damages for a minor's access.
Penalty structure
Civil penalty of up to $50,000 per violation, collectible by the Department of Legal Affairs as an unfair or deceptive trade practice, plus reasonable attorney fees and court costs; a third party performing age verification in violation of Fla. Stat. sec. 501.1738 is likewise liable, actionable by the department alone. Punitive damages may be assessed for a consistent pattern of noncompliance.
- Rule
- Per violation only
- As of
- Currency
- USD
- Per violation unit
- Violation
- Per violation amount
- 50,000
Statutory damages
A commercial entity that violates the age-verification duty and fails to prohibit a minor's continued access after a report of unauthorized or unlawful access is liable to the minor, including court costs and reasonable attorney fees; the statute states a ceiling and no floor ("up to $10,000 in damages"). The action may only be brought on behalf of or by a resident minor, within one year of discovery.
- As of
- Currency
- USD
Who enforces it
Enforcement body
Florida Attorney General, Department of Legal Affairs
Settledness
- As of
- Open questions
- How is "more than 33.3 percent of total material on a website or application" in Section 501.1737(1)(j) measured, by number of items, running time or page views, for a site that mixes material harmful to minors with other content?
- What makes an age verification method "commercially reasonable" under Section 501.1737(1)(i), and does "approved by the commercial entity" leave the choice of method wholly to the entity?
What it reaches
Age threshold
18
How the hook was established
express
What makes it apply
User location
Obligation class
Age verification
Verification methods
Gov ID, Transactional data, Third party service
Applicability criteria
Section 501.1737(2) attaches the age verification duty to a website or application that contains a substantial portion of material harmful to minors, a term Section 501.1737(1)(j) defines by this share.
- As of
- Combinator
- All of
- Criteria
- knowingly and intentionally publishes or distributes material harmful to minors on a website or application that contains a substantial portion of such material, meaning more than 33.3 percent of total material on the website or application
What it makes you log
Log retention
The rule in section 501.1738(2)(a) binds the third party that conducts anonymous age verification; the sections cited carry no retention rule for a commercial entity that runs standard age verification itself.
- As of
- Basis
- Fixed
- Prohibits retaining
- Personal identifying information used to verify age, which the independent third party conducting anonymous age verification may not retain once the age of the account holder or person seeking an account has been verified
Logging duty
Section 501.1737(2) requires a covered commercial entity to verify that a visitor is 18 or older before allowing access and to offer both an anonymous and a standard method. Neither it nor section 501.1738 requires the entity to keep a record or log of the check. Section 501.1738(2) instead limits what the independent third party that conducts anonymous age verification may keep. The department's subpoena power in section 501.1737(8) reaches evidence of a violation, and no kept record is named for it to examine.
- Kind
- None
- As of
What this law does
Requires a website that contains a substantial portion of material harmful to minors, as the applicability criteria define it, to perform reasonable age verification before granting access, using a standard method or an anonymous age verification service the visitor selects. A separate industry lawsuit challenging this provision was voluntarily dismissed in July 2025.
When LexLint raises it
When your app profile says your app publishes adult content.
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