Wyoming and South Dakota’s New Age-Check Laws Could Rope in Half the Internet

Wyoming and South Dakota just rolled out new age verification laws meant to keep kids away from “material harmful to minors” — but unlike most other states, they’ve skipped a key safeguard that normally limits how far these rules reach.

In nearly 30 other states, laws like this only kick in if at least a third of a site’s content is considered adult material. Without that “one-third rule,” Wyoming and South Dakota’s versions could apply to any site hosting even a sliver of content officials deem harmful to kids — from social media and streaming platforms to online bookstores.

That could mean sites like Reddit, Netflix, Amazon, Discord, or even your local library’s e-book portal might need to verify the ages of every visitor in those states, according to the Free Speech Coalition, which is sounding the alarm. Platforms that skip the checks could face lawsuits or even criminal charges.

Lawmakers behind the bills say they left the one-third rule out on purpose. Wyoming Rep. Martha Lawley argues that proving exactly how much of a site counts as porn is nearly impossible — and says the percentage limit was pushed by the porn industry to make enforcement harder. South Dakota Rep. Bethany Soye calls the 33% figure “totally random” and says her bill instead focuses on whether adult content is part of a site’s regular business, not an arbitrary fraction.

Critics see it differently. They point to the UK’s new Online Safety Act as a cautionary tale — a law that started as a child-protection measure but now forces platforms from Discord to Spotify to verify users’ ages for a wide range of content. Mike Stabile of the Free Speech Coalition says porn was always “a Trojan horse” for broader surveillance and censorship.

With these rules now in force, it’s not just porn sites facing the heat — it’s potentially huge swaths of the internet. And if more states copy Wyoming and South Dakota’s approach, the age-check gates could start popping up everywhere you click.

The original story by Samantha Cole for 404 Media.