Idaho HB 498 (Adult Content)
What it does
Idaho HB 498 makes any commercial site where at least a third of the content is harmful to minors verify a visitor is 18 with a digitized ID or a commercial age-check service. A person harmed, including the parent of a minor who got in, can sue for injunctive relief plus statutory damages set at a floor, so the payout does not depend on proving actual loss.
Why it matters
Statutory damages change the math. A site facing a fixed penalty per violation, no proof of harm required, has every reason to over-verify, which pushes more Idahoans through an ID check to reach lawful material.
Our take
Idaho passed this unanimously in both chambers, then came back in 2026 with HB 542 to reach social media too. The statutory-damages design makes the porn-site law cheap to enforce and expensive to ignore.
Votes
- House — Passed (67 to 0) · February 14, 2024
- Senate — Passed (33 to 0) · March 14, 2024
Timeline
- March 20, 2024Signed into law
- July 1, 2024Took effect
Our coverage: all age-verification stories · Status checked July 19, 2026