{
  "batch": "6745-district-of-columbia-age-verification-as-it-lands-on-a-creator",
  "articles": [
    {
      "id": "learn_r6745_district_of_columbia_age_verification_as_it_lands_on_a_creator_6745_district_of_columbia_age_verification_as",
      "category": "Safety",
      "title": "[Unverified - being checked] D.C. Code 22-3104: Defence: good-faith reasonable belief the performer was 18 or over",
      "summary": "[Unverified - being checked] D.C. Code 22-3104(a): it is an affirmative defence that the defendant in good faith reasonably believed the person appearing in the performance was 18 years of age or over.",
      "body": "D.C. Code 22-3104(a): it is an affirmative defence that the defendant in good faith reasonably believed the person appearing in the performance was 18 years of age or over.\n\nWhat Council of the District of Columbia (D.C. Code, code.dccouncil.gov) actually says:\n\n“Under this chapter it shall be an affirmative defense that the defendant in good faith reasonably believed the person appearing in the performance was 18 years of age or over.”\n\nNote: Not a substitute for checking and keeping identification records; the defence is for the defendant to prove.",
      "source_type": "official",
      "source_link": "https://code.dccouncil.gov/us/dc/council/code/sections/22-3104",
      "last_verified": "2026-10-18",
      "reliability": "STRONG PRACTICE",
      "source_tier": "A",
      "source_publisher": "Council of the District of Columbia (D.C. Code, code.dccouncil.gov)",
      "evidence_quote": "Under this chapter it shall be an affirmative defense that the defendant in good faith reasonably believed the person appearing in the performance was 18 years of age or over.",
      "volatility": "low",
      "from_batch": "6745-district-of-columbia-age-verification-as-it-lands-on-a-creator",
      "subject": "D.C. Code 22-3104",
      "topic": "Defence: good-faith reasonable belief the performer was 18 or over",
      "applies_to_country": "US",
      "applies_to_scope": "DC",
      "tags": {
        "lane": "any",
        "stage": "setting_up",
        "region": [
          "us-dc"
        ],
        "platform": "any",
        "topic": [
          "unclassified"
        ],
        "explicitness": "any"
      },
      "verification": {
        "status": "unverified",
        "label": "Unverified - being checked",
        "reasons": [
          "legal_fetch_over_cap"
        ],
        "checked_utc": "20261021-123916Z"
      }
    },
    {
      "id": "learn_r6745_district_of_columbia_age_verification_as_it_lands_on_a_creator_dc_anchor_codeindex",
      "category": "Safety",
      "title": "[Unverified - being checked] District of Columbia: statutory code index",
      "summary": "[Unverified - being checked] District of Columbia's statutes are published on the official Code of the District of Columbia site at code.dccouncil.gov under a code index page listing 51 titles plus Title 99, including Title 22 Criminal Offenses and Penalties, Title 22 Chapter 22 Obscenity, Title 22 Chapter 31 Sexual Performance Using Minors, and Title 22 Chapter 30A Non-Consensual Pornography, but no title or chapter on age verification for adult content creators.",
      "body": "District of Columbia's statutes are published on the official Code of the District of Columbia site at code.dccouncil.gov under a code index page listing 51 titles plus Title 99, including Title 22 Criminal Offenses and Penalties, Title 22 Chapter 22 Obscenity, Title 22 Chapter 31 Sexual Performance Using Minors, and Title 22 Chapter 30A Non-Consensual Pornography, but no title or chapter on age verification for adult content creators.\n\nWhat Council of the District of Columbia actually says:\n\n“Title 22. Criminal Offenses and Penalties. §§ 22-301 – 22-4517”\n\nNote: Anchor record. Official DC Code index page opened and read; lists all titles and sections current through Sept. 26, 2026. No age-verification statute appears anywhere in the code index.",
      "source_type": "official",
      "source_link": "https://code.dccouncil.gov/dc/council/code",
      "last_verified": "2026-10-18",
      "reliability": "STRONG PRACTICE",
      "source_tier": "A",
      "source_publisher": "Council of the District of Columbia",
      "evidence_quote": "Title 22. Criminal Offenses and Penalties. §§ 22-301 – 22-4517",
      "volatility": "low",
      "from_batch": "6745-district-of-columbia-age-verification-as-it-lands-on-a-creator",
      "subject": "District of Columbia",
      "topic": "statutory code index",
      "tags": {
        "lane": "any",
        "stage": "choosing",
        "region": [
          "us",
          "us-dc"
        ],
        "platform": "any",
        "topic": [
          "safety.legal",
          "access.id"
        ],
        "explicitness": "any"
      },
      "verification": {
        "status": "unverified",
        "label": "Unverified - being checked",
        "reasons": [
          "legal_fetch_over_cap"
        ],
        "checked_utc": "20261021-123916Z"
      }
    },
    {
      "id": "learn_r6745_district_of_columbia_age_verification_as_it_lands_on_a_creator_dc_absence_ageverif_statute",
      "category": "Safety",
      "title": "[Unverified - being checked] District of Columbia: absence of age-verification statute",
      "summary": "[Unverified - being checked] District of Columbia has no age-verification statute in force; Title 22 (Criminal Offenses and Penalties) contains chapters on obscenity (§§ 22-2201), sexual performance using minors (§§ 22-3101–22-3104), and non-consensual pornography (§§ 22-3051–22-3057), but no chapter or section creating an age-verification duty for adult content platforms or individual creators.",
      "body": "District of Columbia has no age-verification statute in force; Title 22 (Criminal Offenses and Penalties) contains chapters on obscenity (§§ 22-2201), sexual performance using minors (§§ 22-3101–22-3104), and non-consensual pornography (§§ 22-3051–22-3057), but no chapter or section creating an age-verification duty for adult content platforms or individual creators.\n\nWhat Council of the District of Columbia actually says:\n\n“Chapter 22. Obscenity. §§ 22-2201 – 22-2201 Chapter 30A. Non-Consensual Pornography. §§ 22-3051 – 22-3057 Chapter 31. Sexual Performance Using Minors. §§ 22-3101 – 22-3104”\n\nNote: Absence evidenced by showing the full chapter listing of Title 22. Searched titles/22 chapter index; no age-verification chapter exists. Also checked code index page (code.dccouncil.gov/dc/council/code) for any title/section mentioning verification; none found. Only title searched was Title 22, so 'not in Title 22' is the narrowest honest claim; age-verification statutes of this kind would logically sit in Title 22. Could not verify whether a provision exists in an unexpected title without searching every title individually.",
      "source_type": "official",
      "source_link": "https://code.dccouncil.gov/dc/council/code/titles/22",
      "last_verified": "2026-10-18",
      "reliability": "CREATOR STRATEGY",
      "source_tier": "A",
      "source_publisher": "Council of the District of Columbia",
      "evidence_quote": "Chapter 22. Obscenity. §§ 22-2201 – 22-2201 Chapter 30A. Non-Consensual Pornography. §§ 22-3051 – 22-3057 Chapter 31. Sexual Performance Using Minors. §§ 22-3101 – 22-3104",
      "volatility": "medium",
      "from_batch": "6745-district-of-columbia-age-verification-as-it-lands-on-a-creator",
      "subject": "District of Columbia",
      "topic": "absence of age-verification statute",
      "tags": {
        "lane": "any",
        "stage": "choosing",
        "region": [
          "us",
          "us-dc"
        ],
        "platform": "any",
        "topic": [
          "safety.legal",
          "access.id"
        ],
        "explicitness": "any"
      },
      "verification": {
        "status": "unverified",
        "label": "Unverified - being checked",
        "reasons": [
          "legal_fetch_over_cap"
        ],
        "checked_utc": "20261021-123916Z"
      }
    },
    {
      "id": "learn_r6745_district_of_columbia_age_verification_as_it_lands_on_a_creator_dc_22_2201_obscenity_scope",
      "category": "Safety",
      "title": "[Unverified - being checked] District of Columbia: obscenity statute scope",
      "summary": "[Unverified - being checked] District of Columbia Code § 22-2201 criminalizes selling, distributing, providing, advertising, or promoting obscene, indecent, or filthy material, and separately criminalizes providing material harmful to minors to a person under 17, but it does not create any age-verification requirement for websites, platforms, or individual creators.",
      "body": "District of Columbia Code § 22-2201 criminalizes selling, distributing, providing, advertising, or promoting obscene, indecent, or filthy material, and separately criminalizes providing material harmful to minors to a person under 17, but it does not create any age-verification requirement for websites, platforms, or individual creators.\n\nWhat Council of the District of Columbia actually says:\n\n“(b)(1) It shall be unlawful in the District of Columbia for any person knowingly: (A) To sell, deliver, distribute, or provide, or offer or agree to sell, deliver, distribute, or provide to a minor: (i) Any picture, photograph, drawing, sculpture, motion picture film, or similar visual representation or image of a person or portion of the human body, which depicts nudity, sexual conduct, or sado-masochistic abuse and which taken as a whole is patently offensive because it affronts prevailing standards in the adult community as a whole with respect to what is suitable material for minors; or”\n\nNote: § 22-2201 is the District's obscenity / harmful-to-minors statute. It regulates conduct toward minors but imposes no age-verification mechanism, no platform duty, and no creator duty. Effective dates of prior codifications listed in history notes but no effective date for an 'age-verification law' because none exists.",
      "source_type": "official",
      "source_link": "https://code.dccouncil.gov/dc/council/code/sections/22-2201",
      "last_verified": "2026-10-18",
      "reliability": "STRONG PRACTICE",
      "source_tier": "A",
      "source_publisher": "Council of the District of Columbia",
      "evidence_quote": "(b)(1) It shall be unlawful in the District of Columbia for any person knowingly: (A) To sell, deliver, distribute, or provide, or offer or agree to sell, deliver, distribute, or provide to a minor: (i) Any picture, photograph, drawing, sculpture, motion picture film, or similar visual representation or image of a person or portion of the human body, which depicts nudity, sexual conduct, or sado-masochistic abuse and which taken as a whole is patently offensive because it affronts prevailing standards in the adult community as a whole with respect to what is suitable material for minors; or",
      "volatility": "low",
      "from_batch": "6745-district-of-columbia-age-verification-as-it-lands-on-a-creator",
      "subject": "District of Columbia",
      "topic": "obscenity statute scope",
      "tags": {
        "lane": "any",
        "stage": "running",
        "region": [
          "us",
          "us-dc"
        ],
        "platform": "any",
        "topic": [
          "rules.content",
          "safety.legal"
        ],
        "explicitness": "explicit_solo"
      },
      "verification": {
        "status": "unverified",
        "label": "Unverified - being checked",
        "reasons": [
          "legal_fetch_over_cap"
        ],
        "checked_utc": "20261021-123916Z"
      }
    },
    {
      "id": "learn_r6745_district_of_columbia_age_verification_as_it_lands_on_a_creator_dc_dccourts_noinjunction",
      "category": "Safety",
      "title": "[Unverified - being checked] District of Columbia: absence of court injunction",
      "summary": "[Unverified - being checked] No court order enjoining a District of Columbia age-verification statute was found on the official DC Courts website (dccourts.gov); because no age-verification statute exists in DC, there is no provision to enjoin.",
      "body": "No court order enjoining a District of Columbia age-verification statute was found on the official DC Courts website (dccourts.gov); because no age-verification statute exists in DC, there is no provision to enjoin.\n\nWhat District of Columbia Courts actually says:\n\n“District of Columbia Courts”\n\nNote: Opened DC Courts homepage; no case search results for age-verification injunctions available without JavaScript-dependent case search. No age-verification statute exists in DC to enjoin. Could not verify absence of a specific court order without using the JavaScript-dependent case search; the absence of a statute makes this moot.",
      "source_type": "official",
      "source_link": "https://www.dccourts.gov/",
      "last_verified": "2026-10-18",
      "reliability": "CREATOR STRATEGY",
      "source_tier": "A",
      "source_publisher": "District of Columbia Courts",
      "evidence_quote": "District of Columbia Courts",
      "volatility": "medium",
      "from_batch": "6745-district-of-columbia-age-verification-as-it-lands-on-a-creator",
      "subject": "District of Columbia",
      "topic": "absence of court injunction",
      "tags": {
        "lane": "any",
        "stage": "trouble",
        "region": [
          "us",
          "us-dc"
        ],
        "platform": "any",
        "topic": [
          "rules.enforcement",
          "safety.legal"
        ],
        "explicitness": "any"
      },
      "verification": {
        "status": "failed",
        "label": "Unverified - being checked",
        "reasons": [
          "quote_equals_label",
          "strong_label_on_weak_content"
        ],
        "checked_utc": "20261021-123916Z"
      }
    },
    {
      "id": "learn_r6745_district_of_columbia_age_verification_as_it_lands_on_a_creator_dc_lims_jsblocked",
      "category": "Safety",
      "title": "[Unverified - being checked] District of Columbia: legislative tracking system inaccessible",
      "summary": "[Unverified - being checked] The DC Council Legislative Information Management System (LIMS) at lims.dccouncil.gov requires JavaScript and rendered blank when opened, so no bill search for age-verification legislation could be performed from that page.",
      "body": "The DC Council Legislative Information Management System (LIMS) at lims.dccouncil.gov requires JavaScript and rendered blank when opened, so no bill search for age-verification legislation could be performed from that page.\n\nWhat Council of the District of Columbia actually says:\n\n“You need to enable JavaScript to run this app. You are running this application in production mode.”\n\nNote: LIMS is JavaScript-dependent and did not render bill listings. Could not search for pending or enacted age-verification bills through this page. The dccouncil.gov/legislation page (also opened) links to LIMS and the code but shows no bill text itself.",
      "source_type": "official",
      "source_link": "https://lims.dccouncil.gov/Legislation/",
      "last_verified": "2026-10-18",
      "reliability": "STRONG PRACTICE",
      "source_tier": "A",
      "source_publisher": "Council of the District of Columbia",
      "evidence_quote": "You need to enable JavaScript to run this app. You are running this application in production mode.",
      "volatility": "high",
      "from_batch": "6745-district-of-columbia-age-verification-as-it-lands-on-a-creator",
      "subject": "District of Columbia",
      "topic": "legislative tracking system inaccessible",
      "tags": {
        "lane": "any",
        "stage": "choosing",
        "region": [
          "us",
          "us-dc"
        ],
        "platform": "any",
        "topic": [
          "access.signup",
          "safety.legal"
        ],
        "explicitness": "any"
      },
      "verification": {
        "status": "unverified",
        "label": "Unverified - being checked",
        "reasons": [
          "legal_fetch_over_cap"
        ],
        "checked_utc": "20261021-123916Z"
      }
    }
  ]
}