Law / United States / 
Idaho
HB 498 (2024), age verification for material harmful to minors
Idaho Code Secs. 6-3801 to 6-3809
In force since .
An adult content age verification (AV) rule binding private bodies.
- Audit expectation
- none
What it requires
- Applies to a publisher of a website where more than one third of the content is harmful to minors.
- Perform reasonable age verification, through a digitized identification card or a commercial age verification system using government issued identification or transactional data, and prevent minors from accessing the material.
- Expect private lawsuits with statutory damages of at least $10,000.
These lines are LexLint's reading of the law's text.
If you get it wrong
Criminal exposureNo
Private right of actionYes
Penalties
Statutory damages of not less than $10,000, plus court costs and attorney fees.
Statutory damages
The private plaintiff's award also includes injunctive relief, nominal and compensatory damages, court costs and reasonable attorney fees. The chapter is enforced exclusively through this private cause of action; no state or local body may enforce it directly.
- As of
- Currency
- USD
- Per person minimum
- 10,000
Who enforces it
Enforcement body
Private civil enforcement only; the chapter bars direct or indirect enforcement by the state, a political subdivision, or any officer or employee of either.
Settledness
The chapter is enforced only through private civil actions and the state may not enforce it, so no regulator construes it.
- As of
- Open questions
- How is "more than one-third (1/3) of total material on a website" in Idaho Code Section 6-3802(11) measured, by number of items, running time or page views, for a site that mixes material harmful to minors with other content?
- When does a hypertext link to a third-party website count as "an attempt to intentionally dilute the percentage calculation" under Idaho Code Section 6-3802(11)?
What it reaches
Age threshold
18
Obligation class
Age verification
Verification methods
Gov ID, Digital ID, Transactional data, Third party service
Applicability criteria
Section 6-3803 attaches the age verification duty to a website that contains a substantial portion of material harmful to minors, a term Section 6-3802(11) defines by this share, and which excludes material on a linked third-party website that contains no such material unless the link is an attempt to dilute the percentage.
- As of
- Combinator
- All of
- Criteria
- publishes or distributes material harmful to minors on a website on which more than one-third (1/3) of total material is such material
What it makes you log
Log retention
- As of
- Basis
- Fixed
- Prohibits retaining
- Identifying information of the individual, which a commercial entity or third party that takes steps to perform age verification may not retain after the age verification has been performed
Logging duty
Section 6-3803(1) makes a commercial entity liable if it fails to perform reasonable age verification of individuals attempting to access material harmful to minors. It does not require a log or record of the check, and it names no audit; enforcement is only by private civil action under section 6-3807. Section 6-3803(2) instead bars keeping identifying information after verification.
- Kind
- None
- As of
What this law does
Requires a publisher of a website whose share of material harmful to minors meets the applicability criteria to perform reasonable age verification, via a digitized identification card or a commercial age verification system using government issued identification or transactional data, and prevent minors from accessing the material. Creates a private right of action with statutory damages of at least $10,000. Enacted as 2024 Idaho Session Laws chapter 113.
When LexLint raises it
When your app profile says your app publishes adult content.
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