North Dakota
Subnational jurisdiction · as of 2026-07-15
North Dakota enacted a pair of companion adult content age verification laws in 2025, House Bill 1561 and Senate Bill 2380, both effective August 1, 2025. Each adds a near-identical section to chapter 51-07 of the Century Code requiring commercial entities whose websites contain more than one third sexual material harmful to minors to verify that visitors are 18 or older, bars retention of identifying information, and is enforced solely through private civil suits. SB 2380 was introduced as a device, operating system, and app store age-signal mandate, an approach the adult industry's trade group publicly supported, but that mandate was stripped before passage; the enrolled law parallels HB 1561 and expressly shields internet service providers, search engines, cloud providers, and app stores. No social media minor-access, app store, or design code law has been enacted.
01
Instruments on record
HB 1561, age verification for sexual material harmful to minors
In force
N.D. Cent. Code ch. 51-07 (new section enacted by 2025 H.B. 1561)
Effective 2025-08-01 · Applies to private
Commercial entities that knowingly publish or distribute sexual material harmful to minors on a website where more than one third of the content meets that definition must perform reasonable age verification, such as a digitized identification card or a commercial verification system using a government ID or transactional data. A commercial entity or third party performing verification may not retain identifying information after access is granted, and enforcement is through private civil suits only.
| Age threshold | 18 |
| Verification methods | digital id, gov id, transactional data |
| Penalties | Injunctions, compensatory and exemplary damages, attorney fees, sought by a parent, guardian, or affected individual. |
| Enforcement body | None (private civil action only); no designated state enforcement agency |
| Private suits | yes |
Source: N.D. Cent. Code ch. 51-07 (new section enacted by 2025 H.B. 1561)
SB 2380, age verification for sexual material harmful to minors (companion to HB 1561)
In force
N.D. Cent. Code ch. 51-07 (new section enacted by 2025 S.B. 2380)
Effective 2025-08-01 · Applies to private
Substantially identical to companion bill HB 1561: commercial entities that knowingly publish or distribute sexual material harmful to minors on a website where more than one third of the content meets that definition must verify visitors are 18 or older using a digitized identification card or a commercial age verification system relying on government-issued identification, a commercially available age and identity database, or transactional data, and may not retain identifying information after access is granted. As introduced, the bill would have required device makers, operating systems, and app stores to determine user age and transmit age signals, but the enrolled law dropped that mandate entirely and instead expressly provides that internet service providers, search engines, cloud providers, and application stores are not liable solely for providing access to third-party content. Enforcement is through private civil suits only.
| Age threshold | 18 |
| Verification methods | digital id, gov id, third party service, transactional data |
| Penalties | Injunctions, compensatory and exemplary damages, costs and attorney fees, sought by a parent or guardian of a minor allowed access, or an individual whose identifying information was retained. |
| Enforcement body | None (private civil action only); no designated state enforcement agency |
| Private suits | yes |
Source: N.D. Cent. Code ch. 51-07 (new section enacted by 2025 S.B. 2380)