Wisconsin Governor Evers Vetoes Porn Age Verification Bill, Citing Privacy Concerns

Governor Tony Evers vetoed Assembly Bill 105 on Good Friday, April 3, rejecting a measure that would have required Wisconsinites to verify their age before accessing pornographic websites. "I am vetoing this bill in its entirety because I object to this bill's intrusion into the personal privacy of Wisconsin residents," Evers wrote in a letter to assembly members. "While I agree that we should protect children from harmful material, this bill imposes an intrusive burden on adults who are trying to access constitutionally protected materials."

The bill, authored by Republican Representative Joy Goeben and Senator Van Wanggaard, targeted websites where more than one-third of content was deemed "harmful to minors," requiring them to confirm users were 18 or older through a government-issued ID, biometric face scan, or credit card and bank account information. Evers warned the "sensitive, personally identifiable information" collected could be sold to the government or "intercepted by or transmitted to a third party and used as the basis for blackmail or identity theft," placing the data-security risk squarely on ordinary users seeking access to legal content.

AB 105 had passed the Wisconsin Assembly 69-22, with 20 Democrats crossing the aisle to join 49 Republicans, and cleared the Senate by voice vote. That roughly three-quarters majority mirrors national polling showing 70-80% public support for these laws.

The veto arrived less than a year after the U.S. Supreme Court's 6-3 ruling in Free Speech Coalition v. Paxton, issued June 27, 2025, upholding Texas's age verification law and establishing that "adults have no First Amendment right to avoid age verification," per Justice Clarence Thomas's majority opinion. That ruling directly undercut the constitutional logic in Evers' message. Wisconsin Family Action, the bill's lead lobbying champion, cited it in condemning the veto, noting the Court had called such laws a "constitutionally permissible exercise" of state power. President Daniel Degner was blunt: "It is shameful that the Governor of Wisconsin is choosing to parrot talking points from porn companies rather than acting to protect our kids."

The ACLU of Wisconsin had opposed the bill on separate grounds, arguing it "exposes adult Wisconsinites to harmful surveillance and raises significant First Amendment concerns" and warning it could block people who lack government ID or are misidentified by facial recognition. The Electronic Frontier Foundation added that even Evers' preferred alternative carries risk: device-based verification "permanently links an identifying data point" to a user that would then be shared across every site, app, and platform they access.

That alternative is precisely what Evers proposed, urging legislators to work with tech companies to "implement device-based age verification that takes place on a user's phone or computer, which can be a more secure and effective method." Critics further warn the sweeping language common in such bills could reach sex educators, sexual health organizations, and queer creators well beyond pornographic platforms.

Wisconsin now sits among a shrinking group of states without such a requirement. More than 25 states have enacted age verification laws since Louisiana's Act 440 took effect January 1, 2023, with 13 more currently debating similar measures. The movement crosses party lines: Democratic governors Katie Hobbs in Arizona and Andy Beshear in Kentucky have both signed comparable bills, making Evers' veto an outlier within his own party. Pornhub has blocked access in every state where verification is enforced, including Florida on January 1, 2025.

With the Supreme Court's constitutional questions settled and a bipartisan supermajority in the Legislature already on record in favor, the remaining dispute is over mechanism: who builds the verification system, who controls the data it generates, and who is held accountable when it fails.