Age verification demands for porn sites passed by House

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Requirements for pornography sites and others hosting content “harmful to minors” has passed in the House.

The lower chamber voted unanimously for legislation (HB 3) that pushes publishers to perform reasonable age verification. Right now, most sites simply ask users to press a button verifying they are of age.

“When you live in a world where there is a trending downward age of children that for the first time are seeing hardcore pornography, from their phones from their tablets from their computers, when young girls are believing that they have to look a certain way just be desirable and young boys believe they have to behave aggressively just to be desirable, then members, it’s time to take a stand for our children,” said Rep. Toby Overdorf, a Palm City Republican.

No lawmakers argued against the bill on the floor, and the bill passed on a 119-0 vote. But a number of Democrats earlier this week sought assurance the bill wouldn’t result in overreach.

Rep. Anna Eskamani, an Orlando Democrat, noted that Pornhub, the top online publisher of pornography in the U.S., blocked access for all North Carolina users to access its website after a similar age verification law passed there.

Pornhub owners have not said if they intend to take similar action if the House-passed legislation becomes law, but have argued the onus on age verification should be enforced at the device-level, not a requirement on publishers.

Rep. Chase Tramont, a Port Orange Republican, said his bill doesn’t mandate the use of state-issued IDs and a government-led system the same way North Carolina does.

But he suggested in his closing argument that protecting children from exposure to graphic content was a more important state concern than ensuring others could access porn.

“We’ve turned a blind eye while the innocence of our children had been stolen and their minds forever warped and corrupted,” Tramont said. “And here’s the most disturbing part about that. It was and is preventable.”

A similar bill (SB 1792) has been filed in the Senate by Sen. Erin Grall, a Fort Pierce Republican, but has yet to be heard on a Senate Judiciary Committee agenda.