WASHINGTON — The Free Speech Coalition (FSC) has published a blog post detailing the organization's talks on age verification on Capitol Hill in Washington.
The post follows:
Following the progression of a package of children’s online safety bills in Congress, FSC Executive Director Alison Boden traveled to Washington, D.C. to share the adult industry’s experience with age verification policies and our ideas for improving the proposals currently being considered at the federal level. Our delegation included performer and advocate Allie Eve Knox, Julian Corbett of the OpenAge Initiative, and our government affairs team from FS Vector.
Background
On March 5, the House Energy and Commerce Committee approved the KIDS Act, which incorporates over a dozen bills related to children’s use of the internet – including the SCREEN Act. While the language in the new bill is an improvement over the original SCREEN Act in both substance and clarity, major issues with the legislation remain.
Over in the Senate, we expect the Commerce Committee, led by Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX), to move forward with its own set of bills related to children online safety once Congress returns from its two week recess in mid April. No word yet on which child safety-related bills will be included in the Senate package.
Our Goals
While FSC is well-known on Capitol Hill after meeting with more than 50 congressional offices about banking fairness, we have not engaged broadly on the age verification issue until now. As the advocacy body for the industry most impacted by age verification laws in the US, we shared our members’ experiences to illustrate the reasons why website-based policy has been ineffective and provide education on the privacy-preserving, device-based approach.
How it Went
We were encouraged by the reception we received. Across party lines, offices engaged seriously with our concerns -- particularly around the ineffectiveness of site-level verification and the privacy implications of requiring websites to demand users’ biometrics or government IDs. There was near-universal interest in the idea of basing policy on private, reusable, device-based verification and we expect to hold many more meetings and policy briefings in the months to come.
What About the SCREEN Act?
While the prospects for children's online safety legislation passing this year appear limited, congressional staff across both parties expect bipartisan interest in age verification to intensify going into the next Congress, which begins in January 2027. As more states pass age verification laws and the FTC signals potential rulemaking in this space, federal action is becoming a question of when, not if. The work we do in the next few months to shape the conversation will directly influence what any potential legislation looks like next Congress, whether it’s the reintroduction of the SCREEN Act or a similar bill concerning age verification.
What’s Next?
We have a narrow but significant window to make our case around device-based age verification before the next Congress convenes. That means broadening our coalition and complementing the efforts of parents' groups, privacy advocates, and technical experts who can speak to why an ecosystem-wide approach that starts with the user’s device is the right path forward.
FSC will be following up with key offices and continuing to develop the relationships we built on this trip. We'll keep members updated as this work progresses.
If you want to get involved – whether that's sharing your experience with age verification laws, connecting us with allies in your network, or supporting this work financially – get in touch!
For more information, visit FreeSpeechCoalition.com.
