LOS ANGELES — Free Speech Coalition (FSC) has released an online guide tracking new anti-porn age verification laws and bills in multiple states, in a wave of what the trade organization has called “the most aggressive censorship we've seen in decades.”
FSC's guide for tracking the various pieces of legislation, several of which aim to create liability for adult sites that fail to institute user age verification, was shared via Twitter this weekend and can be found here.
All of the recent proposals and state laws were introduced by Republican legislators, many of whom are openly religiously motivated. FSC provided a bill-by-bill summary:
- “Louisiana's new age-verification law is blatantly unconstitutional, but that hasn't stopped 4 other states from introducing copycat bills, and others from introducing unconstitutional bills of their own. First, some background on Louisiana's new Act 440. It allows parents to sue websites that don't age-verify adequately (generally interpreted to be biometrics and/or government ID). It's not just unconstitutional, it's a privacy nightmare.”
- “Act 440 took effect Jan 1. Two weeks later, Arkansas followed up with their own law SB 66— essentially a carbon copy — except they lowered the percentage of adult content needed on a platform for it to be liable from 33% to 23%.”
- “Mississippi legislators have now introduced three bills, all roughly identical to the Louisiana law — HB 1315, HB 1091 and SB 2886. If passed, the law would go into effect July 1.”
- “In Utah legislators have announced that they have looked at the Louisiana law and will be introducing one there shortly. Utah will likely want to add a few bells and whistles — just like OR, TX, SC, MT, MO, NJ and others.”
- “In Texas, legislators have introduced HB 1181, which not only defines pornography as ‘any portion of the female breast below the top of the areola,’ but makes those uploading adult content liable (i.e., sue-able) under the law.”
- “Oregon has introduced SB 257, which requires any website with ‘pornography’ to obtain and authenticate a copy of a user's government issued ID, with no guards for privacy (or constitutionality). Unlike Louisiana, it's enforced by the Attorney General.”
- “Missouri has introduced bill SB308, which requires ISPs (AT&T, Spectrum, etc) to filter ‘obscene’ content, or face action from the state.”
- “South Carolina has two bills on pornography, both different, and both… interesting. The first, H 3426, creates a fine of up to $200,000 for anyone, on any platform, that permits as much as ‘lewd exhibition of the genitals" and does not verify age.”
- “The second South Carolina bill, H 3706 (Protection of Minors from Pornography and Obscenities Act), makes it a crime to share or exhibit pornography, but also ‘profane language’ with a minor.” H 3706, added FSC Director of Public Affairs Mike Stabile, “makes it a Class E felony (up to 10 years in prison) to tell a dirty joke or even talk about sex in front of minor. They're adding ‘profane language’ — talk about sex or excretory functions — to a list of criminally banned expressions.”
- “West Virginia is looking to ban all adult businesses from the state. The ‘Sexually Oriented Businesses Regulation Act’ says it needs to violate the First Amendment in order to safeguard the ‘health, safety and morals’ of West Virginians.”
“These are just the ones that have been formally introduced,” FSC warned. “Many more states have announced plans or are planning to introduce in the coming weeks.”
“These battles aren't easy or cheap — but they are dangerous and destructive,” the organization noted, inviting all industry members to support the fight against censorship by joining the FSC here.