House advances demand on porn websites to use better age verification to restrict access

Legislation requiring porn websites to use new technology to verify the age of visitors is advancing in the House.

Rep. Chase Tramont, a Port Orange Republican, said new methods allow websites to do more than ask a user if they are old enough. He said it’s imperative to protect children from harmful content online.

“If by some chance that our country were to fall someday and collapse, I think we can trace it right back to the invention and creation of the internet,” Tramont said, “because while it has brought in substantially good and positive benefits, it has also been a Trojan horse to bring in a number of things that can lead to our eventual downfall.”

The House Regulatory Reform and Economic Development Subcommittee advanced the bill (HB 3) on a unanimous 10-0 vote.

The matter didn’t prove as controversial as similar legislation also passed in the committee that would more broadly barred minors under age 16 from social media. Rep. Toby Overdorf, a Palm City Republican, stressed that the bill would focus on material of a sexual nature.

John Labriola from the Christian Family Coalition spoke in favor of the bill, pointing to surveys of minors showing 71% of teenagers ages 13 to 17 have accessed pornography on the internet. The same surveys showed 90% of minors first accessed porn between ages 11 and 12.

Committee members pressed the bill sponsors on how a statute could ultimately be enforced — and whether the language could be abused.

Rep. Ashley Gantt, a Miami Democrat, said she wants to make sure the legislation doesn’t lead to frivolous lawsuits against businesses. The bill allows for lawsuits against companies that fail to use proper age verification with inappropriate material, but she doesn’t want that category so broad it puts some companies at risk unintentionally.

“I think there is a possibility of particular communities or companies or individuals being targeted,” she said.

The legislation requires any company publishing material deemed “harmful to minors” to employ reasonable age verification methods already used by government agencies and businesses.

“It’s important for us to understand. age verification is done all the time, every single day, whether it be alcohol sales, tobacco use, online gaming, etc.,” Tramont said.