Kentucky House Bill 278

• April 5, 2024 – Signed into law by the Governor.
• July 15, 2024 – Effective date for enforcement.

• Covered platforms that create, host, or make available material online, more than one-third of which is harmful to minors, in the regular course of trade or business with the objective of earning a profit.
• Third-party age verification providers performing age checks on behalf of platforms.

• Internet service providers (ISPs), cloud services, and general-purpose search engines, when acting only as infrastructure and not as content creators.
• Platforms protected by federal law such as Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act.

• Use a state-issued ID, government ID, or a commercially reasonable method using transactional data to verify that users are 18+.
• Restrict access to harmful content until age has been verified.

• Apply age verification only if more than one-third of content is harmful to minors.
• Ensure age checks occur before any such content is displayed.
• Confirm that verification methods do not retain identifying information after access is granted.

In addition to the core responsibilities described above, the law imposes several important conditions that determine whether a platform must implement age verification:

• The content must meet the legal definition of "harmful to minors," which includes:
  • Appealing to the prurient interest based on community standards,
  • Being patently offensive in its depictions of sexual content,
  • Lacking serious literary, artistic, political, or scientific value for minors.
• The platform must be designed for profit, even if no profit is ultimately made.
• Any contract or agreement that attempts to waive a minor’s or parent’s right to take legal action under this law is considered void and unenforceable.

• Individuals may:
  • Bring a civil suit for $10,000 per instance of failed age verification.
  • Recover $1,000 for each 24-hour period that identifying information is knowingly retained after access.
  • Seek actual damages, court costs, and attorney’s fees.
• Actions may be filed in:
  • The Circuit Court in the county where the plaintiff resides,
  • The Circuit Court where the violation occurred,
  • Or Franklin Circuit Court.
• Individuals have the right to a jury trial.

• Enforcement is carried out exclusively through private lawsuits.
• No public enforcement by state or local officials, including the Attorney General.
• No preemption of additional remedies under other state or federal laws.