Does Delaware Have an Age Verification Law? (2026 Update)

As of September 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 a Senate committee, and no successor bill was introduced in the General Assembly that followed.

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 publishes or distributes material harmful to minors on the internet, from a website containing a substantial portion of such material, to verify that a visitor is 18 or older using a commercial age-and-identity-verification database or another commercially reasonable method. A violation carried a $250 civil penalty per violation plus civil liability for damages resulting from a minor's access.

The House passed it 31 to 5, with 4 members not voting and 1 absent, on June 18, 2024. The bill was referred to the Senate Executive Committee the same day. It died there without further action when the 152nd General Assembly's session ended on June 30, 2024, never reaching a Senate floor vote.

No Successor Bill in the 153rd General Assembly

The Delaware General Assembly's own records now answer this directly. The bill-detail page for House Bill 265 shows a final status of "Senate Executive 6/18/24" and states that the General Assembly has ended, so that status is final.

A review of the complete bill index for the 153rd General Assembly, covering 2025 and 2026, turned up no successor age-verification measure for adult websites. The bill number HB 265 was reassigned in the 153rd General Assembly to an unrelated act on sexual-offense reporting and immunity, so it is not a continuation of the 2024 measure. The Delaware Code confirms the same result: 6 Del. C. § 1207C, the section HB 265 would have created, does not appear in Title 6, where Chapter 12C still runs from § 1201C through § 1206C.

What Delaware Law Does Restrict

No age-verification mandate does not mean no rules. Delaware's obscenity statute, 11 Del. C. § 1361, makes it a class G felony to knowingly publish, exhibit, or otherwise make available obscene material, or to possess it for commercial distribution. The grade rises to a class E felony when obscene material is sold, delivered, or provided to a person under 18.

A conviction for obscenity involving live conduct also requires the court to order the business closed for 6 months. A subsequent violation within 5 years carries a minimum $5,000 fine, a minimum 9-month prison term that cannot be suspended, 2 years of probation, and a 2-year closure for live conduct.

A second statute, 11 Del. C. § 1365, which the section says may be cited as the Delaware Law on the Protection of Minors From Harmful Materials, makes it a class A misdemeanor to sell, display, loan, rent, or give to a known minor material the person knows is harmful to minors. That section has its own limits: it defines a minor as a person under 17, and a criminal case generally cannot be brought unless the person already had written notice from the Attorney General that the material was adjudged harmful to minors.

Both statutes reach distribution, largely at the point of sale. Neither requires a website to check anyone's age.

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

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Last updated: 2026-09-02.

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 Executive Committee without a floor vote.

What would House Bill 265 have required?

It would have added 6 Del. C. § 1207C, requiring a commercial entity that knowingly or intentionally publishes or distributes material harmful to minors on a website containing a substantial portion of such material to verify that visitors are 18 or older, with a $250 civil penalty per violation plus civil liability for damages from a minor's 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?

No. A review of the full bill index for the 153rd General Assembly, covering 2025 and 2026, found no successor to House Bill 265, and 6 Del. C. § 1207C, the section that bill would have created, does not appear in the Delaware Code.

Is pornography illegal in Delaware?

Adult content is not broadly banned, and no Delaware law requires age verification to view it online. Delaware does restrict distribution: 11 Del. C. § 1361 makes obscenity a class G felony, rising to a class E felony when obscene material is sold, delivered, or provided to a person under 18, and 11 Del. C. § 1365 makes giving material harmful to minors to a known minor a class A misdemeanor. Neither statute imposes an online age-verification duty.