Delaware
Does Delaware Have an Age Verification Law? (2026 Update)
As of August 2026, Delaware has not enacted a law requiring adult websites to verify a visitor's age. A bill that would have created one passed the Delaware House in 2024 but died in the Senate without a vote, and this research found no confirmed successor bill in the current legislative session.
Has Delaware Considered an Age-Verification Law?
Delaware came closer than many states to enacting a pornography age-verification law. House Bill 265, sponsored by Representative Michael Smith, would have required a commercial entity that knowingly or intentionally provides pornography or material harmful to minors to verify a visitor's age before granting access. It passed the Delaware House 31 to 5, with 4 members not voting, in June 2024.
The bill was then referred to the Senate Executive Committee on June 18, 2024. It died there without further action when the 152nd General Assembly's session ended on June 30, 2024, never reaching a Senate floor vote.
A Weaker-Verified Negative for the Current Session
This research attempted to confirm whether a successor bill to House Bill 265 has been introduced in Delaware's current, 153rd General Assembly, covering 2025 and 2026. The bill number HB 265 itself was reassigned in the 153rd General Assembly to an unrelated bill about sexual-offense reporting and immunity, so it is not a live continuation of the 2024 measure.
Delaware's own legislative website, legis.delaware.gov, repeatedly refused automated access during this research, including on a specific bill-detail page, so this research could not fully browse the state's current bill list first-hand. Searches of bill-tracking services and general news coverage turned up no successor bill. This is a real, actively searched negative, but it rests on secondary trackers rather than a direct read of Delaware's own current bill index, and it is the least firmly confirmed negative among the states this research covered. A direct check of legis.delaware.gov is the strongest way to fully close out the question.
Where This Leaves Delaware Residents
No federal law requires adult websites to verify a visitor's age. The Supreme Court's 2025 decision in Free Speech Coalition v. Paxton confirmed a state may enact such a requirement, but it does not require Delaware, or any state, to do so.
Because Delaware has no enacted statute, mainstream adult websites generally do not geo-block Delaware visitors the way some have blocked residents of Texas, Louisiana, Utah, and other states with an enacted requirement.
Related Resources
- Age Verification Laws by State
- Texas Age Verification Law
- KOSA and COPPA 2.0: The Federal Age-Verification Landscape
Last updated: 2026-08-13.
Frequently Asked Questions
Does Delaware require age verification to view adult content?
No. Delaware has not enacted an age-verification law for adult websites. House Bill 265, which would have created one, passed the House in 2024 but died in the Senate without a vote.
What would House Bill 265 have required?
It would have required a commercial entity that knowingly or intentionally provides pornography or material harmful to minors to verify a visitor's age before granting access.
Why did House Bill 265 fail?
It was referred to the Senate Executive Committee on June 18, 2024, and never received further action before the legislative session ended on June 30, 2024.
Has Delaware introduced a new age-verification bill since 2024?
None was confirmed in this research. Delaware's own legislative website resisted automated searches, so this finding rests on bill-tracking services rather than a direct read of the state's current bill list, and it carries more uncertainty than a typical no-law state.
Is pornography illegal in Delaware?
No. Delaware has no law banning adult content or requiring age verification to view it.
Updates
Independently fact-checked against the cited primary sources
Sources and References
- Delaware H.B. 265 (2023-2024), Bill Tracking Detail(billtrack50.com)
- Bill Requiring Age Validation to Enter Adult Websites Clears Delaware House, Delaware Public Media(delawarepublic.org)
- Free Speech Coalition, Inc. v. Paxton, 606 U.S. 461 (2025), Opinion of the Court(supremecourt.gov).gov