The Interstate Obscenity Definition Act is not law. It has been reintroduced in Congress but has not passed, and nothing about what you can legally create or publish has changed. Your nude content, artistic photos, and adult-adjacent work are not illegal.
This is an early warning — not a crisis. The right response is to tighten how you show up online now, so you are not caught off guard if the landscape shifts later. The five steps below are what that looks like in practice.
What Is the Interstate Obscenity Definition Act?
A bill introduced by Senator Mike Lee (Utah) and Representative Mary Miller (Illinois) proposes to create a federal definition of obscenity and allow the government to prosecute content shared across state lines — including content hosted outside the US.
It is not new. The same bill has been recycled from the previous Congressional session. The three things it would do if passed:
- Create a single national definition of what counts as “obscene”
- Allow federal prosecution of content distributed across state lines
- Extend reach to porn sites hosted outside the US
This bill has been introduced — it has not been voted on, passed committee, or become law. Introduction is the first and most preliminary step in the legislative process. Nothing has changed for creators today.
Does This Affect You Right Now?
No — and that is not spin, it is the legal reality. If you are a nude model, OnlyFans or LoyalFans creator, feature dancer, artist sharing topless content, or performer with adult-adjacent merch, your current content is not illegal under existing law.
Courts currently use the Miller Test to determine what counts as obscene — a three-part standard that requires content to lack serious artistic, literary, political, or scientific value before it can be prosecuted. Content with expressive or artistic value generally does not meet that threshold.
The bill would attempt to broaden that definition, but it is not law, and constitutional challenges would follow any passage. For now: you are good.
Nudity vs. Explicit Content: The Legal Distinction That Matters
This is the most important thing to understand — and most coverage of this bill gets it wrong by treating all adult content as a single category.
- Exposed breasts, artistic nudity, erotic photography
- Generally considered artistic or expressive
- Falls outside the scope of 18 U.S.C. § 2257
- Can be shown on public pages with standard age gating
- Actual or simulated intercourse, masturbation, lascivious exhibition of genitals
- Defined specifically under 18 U.S.C. § 2257
- Requires strict record-keeping to verify all performers are adults
- Must be behind age verification in regulated states
This distinction is why you can safely publish artistic nude photography on your website while content that meets the § 2257 definition of sexually explicit requires a different compliance structure entirely. For a full breakdown of where your content sits legally, see our guide to artistic nude vs. explicit content.
Five Ways to Protect Your Content Now
None of these require waiting for the bill to pass. They are good practice regardless — and they put you in a much stronger position if the legal landscape shifts.
Own Your Platform
- You control the rules
- Can’t be shadow-banned or subpoenaed through a third party
- LinkTree and AllMyLinks can disappear without warning
Keep Public Pages Clean
- Blurred thumbnails, censored previews
- Lock explicit content behind login or age gate
- Explicit content on public homepages increases exposure
Use Adult-Safe Payments
- CCBill is built for the industry
- Legal, compliant, stable for adult content
- PayPal, Stripe, Square shut accounts without warning
Know Your § 2257 Obligations
- Required for all sexually explicit content
- Proves all performers are adults
- Non-compliance exposes you regardless of new bills
For a full walkthrough of your record-keeping obligations under existing law, see our guide to 18 U.S.C. § 2257 compliance. And if you are in a state with active age-verification requirements, the age verification laws guide covers what is currently enforced and where.
What Counts as Obscene? The Miller Test
Even if this bill passes, courts would still need to apply an obscenity standard. The current benchmark — established in Miller v. California (1973) — requires all three of the following to be true before content can be prosecuted as obscene:
Content is only legally obscene if it meets all three criteria simultaneously. Failing any one part means it is not obscene under current law.
2 Patently offensive depiction of sexual conduct
3 Lacks serious artistic, literary, political or scientific value
The third criterion is the one that protects most creator content. Work with genuine expressive, artistic, or personal value generally does not meet the standard — which is why prosecutions under current obscenity law are rare.
The Interstate Obscenity Definition Act would attempt to broaden the definition by removing or weakening the third criterion. That is exactly why civil liberties organisations are watching it — and why it would face immediate First Amendment challenges if passed.
Do You Need to Change Anything Right Now?
No. But the creators who are best protected are the ones who are already set up correctly before any law passes — not scrambling after. The checklist is short:
- You own your website and are not solely reliant on third-party link pages
- Explicit content is behind a login, age gate, or members-only area
- You are using adult-industry payment processors, not mainstream ones
- Your § 2257 record-keeping is in order for any sexually explicit content
- You understand the difference between nude and sexually explicit content as legal categories
Key Takeaways
- 1The Interstate Obscenity Definition Act is not law — it has been introduced but has not passed.
- 2Nothing about what you can legally create or publish has changed today.
- 3Nude content and sexually explicit content are different legal categories — the distinction matters enormously for compliance.
- 4The Miller Test’s three-part standard still protects content with genuine artistic or expressive value.
- 5Own your platform, gate your explicit content, use adult-safe payments, and keep § 2257 records — regardless of what Congress does next.
Not sure where your content sits legally?
We build compliant adult creator websites designed around your content model — so you are protected before a problem, not after one.
Sources & further reading
- Congress.gov — Interstate Obscenity Definition Act (119th Congress)
- Justia — Miller v. California, 413 U.S. 15 (1973) — the three-part obscenity standard
- Cornell Law — 18 U.S.C. § 2257 — record-keeping requirements for sexually explicit content
- Electronic Frontier Foundation — First Amendment analysis of federal obscenity legislation
