Wisconsin AB 105 / SB 130 (Age Verification)
Wisconsin, United StatesMedium threatWisconsin's age-verification bill tried to make adult sites block VPN users. The VPN ban was stripped after backlash, then the whole bill died with the session.
Latest update
Failed to pass before the end of session
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Take action on this issueWhat it does
The bill required age verification on any site with a substantial portion of material deemed harmful to minors. The original text went further than any other state: sites had to detect visitors connecting through a VPN and block them. The Assembly passed it 69 to 22 in March 2025. After EFF and digital rights groups tore into the VPN provision, lawmakers stripped it in early 2026. The Senate never voted, and the bill failed on March 23, 2026 when the session closed.
What’s at stake
This was the first state bill to write a VPN block into an age-verification law. It failed this time, but the logic that produced it has not gone anywhere: age walls do not work when people can tunnel past them, so sooner or later the walls come for the tunnels.
Our take
Wisconsin lawmakers noticed that everyone gets around age checks with a VPN, so they tried to outlaw the workaround. That is the tell. These laws only function if the privacy tools go too, and Wisconsin said that part out loud before retreating.
Timeline
Failed to pass before the end of sessionLatest
VPN-blocking provision stripped after public backlash
Assembly passed AB 105, 69 to 22
Votes
- Assembly — Passage (Senate never voted) (69 to 22)
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