Alabama: Legislature Urged to Copy Utah's 'Porn Filter' Bill

Alabama: Legislature Urged to Copy Utah's 'Porn Filter' Bill

MONTGOMERY, Ala. — The Alabama House Judiciary Committee held a hearing yesterday on a “copycat bill” of the legislation successfully passed in Utah last month, aiming to force phone and computer manufacturers to install default “porn filters” on devices sold in Alabama.

The bill was introduced by Rep. Chris Sells (R, Greenville) as part of a current effort — coordinated by anti-porn lobby NCOSE (formerly Morality in Media) and other religiously motivated crusading organizations — to pass state-by-state laws making this requirement.

Sells told the committee that, although state laws prohibit children from buying alcohol and cigarettes, “we have an iPhone or a mobile device when they’re perhaps 10 years old and all they’ve got to do is punch a couple of buttons and it’s wide-open to every kind of adult thing you can imagine.”

Urging State Intervention for Negligent Parenting

According to a report by local news portal Al.com, Sells said that he was demanding state intervention on behalf of “children whose parents haven’t gone to the trouble to make sure the filter is activated.”

“What I’m finding out is that most parents are not taking the time to download an app or to go into the settings of these phones, and just buy a child a phone and hand it to them,” Sells told the committee.

The committee is expected to vote on the bill next Wednesday. Two people spoke in favor of the bill, while two representatives of the entertainment and wireless industries spoke against it.

Montgomery DA's Tales of 'Porn Addicted' Children

Tim Anderson Jr., director of the Helping Montgomery Families Initiative at the Montgomery County District Attorney’s Office, testified about a supposed state-wide crisis of “porn addiction,” a definition that is contested by most psychology research.

Anderson described a child whose case he was “involved with” as “a full-blown addict by the age of 10."

“He was often unsupervised with over four devices that gave him unlimited access to pornography,” Anderson continued, adding that “the child is 12 and remains addicted.”

Cleo Washington spoke on behalf of AT&T as part of a group of experts that pointed out that the bill was not the best way to protect children from pornography.

“Mandating filter requirements we believe is not the most effective approach, but instead the most effective approach to get control of this is through educational collaboration,” Washington said. “States working with companies and other stakeholders working together to educate consumers about the tools that are available to them, especially in today’s ever evolving world of technology. We also think it’s critical to continue to educate parents.”

The Utah Deadline Looms

The Alabama bill would become the first of the other five state bills that Utah has required before their bill would go into effect in early 2022.

Anti-porn lobbies continue targeting red-state legislatures through religious politicians to obtain that number before the deadline. These are the same legislatures and sponsors behind the 2016-2020 campaign to declare a bogus “public health crisis” around pornography, an initiative that faltered upon the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic when funds were needed for an actual epidemic.

Inset: Alabama State Rep. Chris Sells (Alabama State House)

Copyright © 2025 Adnet Media. All Rights Reserved. XBIZ is a trademark of Adnet Media.
Reproduction in whole or in part in any form or medium without express written permission is prohibited.

More News

Trump Administration Issues Executive Order Against 'Debanking'

The White House on Thursday issued an executive order limiting financial institutions’ ability to restrict access to financial services for people or groups involved in lawful industries, a longtime goal of adult industry advocates and stakeholders.

Go.cam Launches Free Age Verification Solution, Anti-Fraud Features

Go.cam has announced that its age verification solution is now free with updated anti-fraud and identity protection features.

Florida AG Sues EU-Based Adult Companies for Failing to Age-Verify Users

Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier filed a lawsuit Monday with the 12th Judicial Circuit Court of Florida against five EU-based adult companies for allegedly failing to require age verification before allowing access to adult content.

SkyPrivate Launches 'Telegram Pay-Per-Minute' Feature

SkyPrivate has launched a new pay-per-minute (PPM) private show option on Telegram.

Pineapple Support to Host 'Money and Mental Health' Online Event

Pineapple Support is hosting a free, online event to help performers balance financial wellbeing with mental health, Aug. 18-19.

Arcom Warns 5 Adult Sites Over Age Verification

French media regulator Arcom has sent enforcement notices to the operators of five adult websites that the agency says have failed to implement age verification as required under France’s Security and Regulation of the Digital Space (SREN) law.

MojoHost Debuts NVIDIA Blackwell-Powered Hosting

MojoHost has announced the launch of NVIDIA Blackwell-powered hosting featuring RTX 6000 Pro MaxQ GPUs.

FSC: Identity Theft Targeting Adult Performers

The Free Speech Coalition has put out an alert warning of an individual found to be targeting adult performers for identity theft.

Assylum.com Implements New Age Verification System

Assylum.com has introduced an age verification system across its member sites.

European Commission to Assess Pornhub, XVideos, XNXX Compliance With Digital Services Act

The European Commission plans to conduct a study to determine how well adult sites Pornhub, XVideos and XNXX are addressing illegal content and other potential harms under the EU’s Digital Services Act.

Show More