Missouri legislators are debating several bills that could change the way people use the internet.
It’s a tricky balance for the Republican-controlled legislature, as the bills introduce more protections for minors but could also allow for more government regulation of internet spaces.
Under the proposed laws, Missourians would have to upload identification documents to access adult websites. The laws will also more strictly define what users are able to create and share on internet platforms, especially regarding inappropriate images of minors.
Lawmakers are concerned the explosion of artificial intelligence tools, capable of fabricating images and videos in seconds, bring with them new harms — specifically for minors.
Laws introduced this session would criminalize generating or distributing content of minors in intimate contexts.
It’s the type of regulation that may once have inspired free speech challenges for its content-specific basis.
But the mounting capabilities of AI tools have reframed the necessity of regulating harmful fake content.
Ryan Durrie, co-director of the Washington University Law AI Collaborative, said that rather than attempting to rewrite current internet regulations all together, lawmakers could more narrowly tailor their efforts to what content should be filtered out.
"It's a complex web and you'd want legislatures to think through where they want to intervene and what that intervention costs society versus what they're going to stop," he said. "If it's just all image generation technology, that might be pretty draconian. But is there specific interventions of what you make that we go after?"
Those in support of the regulations believe society has already decided on which interventions to allow.
Byron Keelin, president of conservative advocacy group Freedom Principle MO, sees the regulation of AI content as an evolution of revenge porn laws that grew out of the rise of instant messaging in the early 2000s.
“Now we're talking about using AI to get back at somebody," he said. "Showing them being engaged in a criminal activity or a sexual activity that's not true and creating irreparable harm to them."
But AI isn’t the only digital phenomenon concerning lawmakers.
In December, Attorney General Catherine Hanaway enforced a rule requiring major purveyors of adult content to ask for proof of ID for access to the content.
This rule was initially introduced in April by former Attorney General Andrew Bailey, who Hanaway was appointed to succeed in September.
More than half of all states have instated or introduced verification laws requiring a form of ID to access sites offering adult content.
This flurry follows a Supreme Court ruling this summer that made age verification constitutional, overturning a 2004 decision that deemed these checks too broad of a restriction on free speech.
Hanaway's rule has already driven some major adult entertainment sites to block Missouri users.
"Giving your ID card every time you want to visit an adult platform is not the most effective solution for protecting our users," a video on Pornhub told users in Missouri when they tried to access the website. "And, in fact, will put children and your privacy at risk."
Now, bills have been introduced to fully put Hanaway’s action into law.
Critics argue age verification laws could lead to hacking and identity theft. But advocates like Keelin take solace in bill language that blocks third parties from retaining any data.
"You have a third-party system and they're not to retain that information," he said. "And if we find out, then there are — I believe — provisions in this bill that would allow for holding them accountable."
However, that isn't exactly the case. University of Minnesota journalism professor Christopher Terry sees most bill language promising to crack down on third party systems keeping data as unenforceable.
"When you go through that age verification process, you're subject to whatever terms on the data they collect on you that exist for the third party provider," he said. "And if you read those terms of service, that includes monetization of the data that they collect on you."
Age verification also opens the door for repressive regulations by the government, Terry said.
”All the government has to do is prove a substantial government interest and have a rational reason for its approach," he said. "That's enough to defend any content regulation it wants to engage you in."
And these initial regulations could be the beginning of a government-controlled internet – in ways historically seen as unlawful.
"If I as an adult want to go access it, I am forced to do something that is a form of speech compulsion that should be unconstitutional. It's prior restraint," Terry said. "But the court doesn't see it that way anymore. We just haven't caught up to that new reality yet, but we're getting there.
One Missouri House bill regulating AI-generated intimate depictions of minors has passed committee but has not been heard by the full House. Another has been perfected and is awaiting a final hearing.
The leading age verification bill has moved from the House to the Senate.
