Woodhull Freedom Foundation Urges Florida Senators to Reject 'Unconstitutional' Age Verification Bill

Woodhull Freedom Foundation Urges Florida Senators to Reject 'Unconstitutional' Age Verification Bill

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — Woodhull Freedom Foundation reached out to every member of the Florida Senate Judiciary Committee on Wednesday, urging them to reject the state’s proposed age verification bill HB 3 as “not only unconstitutional and a danger to consumer privacy, but ineffective at preventing minors from accessing adult content.”

HB 3 is scheduled to be considered by the committee on Thursday.

The communication was written by Woodhull’s General Counsel, First Amendment expert Lawrence Walters.

This is the text of the communication:

My name is Lawrence G. Walters, and I am writing on behalf of the Woodhull Freedom Foundation as its General Counsel to express serious concerns regarding HB3.

While we agree completely with the goal of keeping children from material that is age-inappropriate or harmful, similar bills introduced in Texas, Louisiana, Utah, and other states have raised significant privacy risks for consumers and are in violation of their First Amendment protections.

As you may be aware, a number of states have passed similar bills. Unfortunately, these bills are not only unconstitutional and a danger to consumer privacy, they are ineffective at preventing minors from accessing adult content. The restrictions are easily evaded through the use of VPNs (as more than 40% of minors already use the technology), have little impact on overseas and pirate sites, and fail to address adult content on search engines or social media where children are most likely to stumble upon it. In fact, these bills encourage the growth of explicit sexual content on non-adult sites.

Compliance with HB 3 also requires a user to transmit extremely sensitive data – such as digitized copies of their government-issued identification, biometric scans, or other forms of data used by commercial age verification software providers – over the internet. The mere collection of this information opens citizens to the risk of data breaches. Even good actors and governments struggle to secure this type of data, as we’ve seen countless times in recent years. Just months after Louisiana’s bill went into effect, the Office of Motor Vehicles suffered a cyberattack and data breach.

Finally, sexually explicit content is First Amendment-protected speech and the Supreme Court has ruled repeatedly that restrictions on its production and consumption face the highest legal bar: strict scrutiny.

In Reno v. ACLU (1997), the Court struck down the statutory provisions of the Communications Decency Act (CDA) requiring use of age verification software as an unconstitutional content-based blanket restriction on speech, saying, “[i]n order to deny minors access to potentially harmful speech, the CDA effectively suppresses a large amount of speech that adults have a constitutional right to receive and address to one another.” Numerous other courts have struck down similar age verification laws over the past 20 years.

The solution is simple. Parental controls and device-level filters are effective tools if parents and schools are willing to use them. This technology not only puts power where it should be – in the hands of parents and caregivers – it is widely available, fully supported by industry, and endorsed by the Supreme Court.

Bills that so severely impact our First Amendment rights deserve serious consideration and debate. We ask that you veto HB3, and direct the legislature to work with technology companies, privacy experts and affected communities to find an effective solution. Thanks for your consideration.

For more information, visit WoodhullFoundation.org.

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

Chaturbate Announces 2025 Music Contest Winners

Chaturbate has revealed the winners of its 2025 music competition.

2026 XBIZ Exec Awards Pre-Noms Open With Debut of New 'Impact' Honors

XBIZ is pleased to announce that the pre-nomination period for the 2026 XBIZ Exec Awards, the adult industry’s premier career honor, begins today and runs through Oct. 14.

MYM Launches New Traffic System

German creator platform MYM has launched a new traffic system for its members.

Ukrainian Content Creators on Hook for Nearly $10M in Back Taxes

Content creators in Ukraine owe the equivalent of $9.3 million in back taxes, according to the country's State Tax Service.

European Patent Office Board of Appeals Revokes EIS GmbH Patent

The European Patent Office (EPO) Board of Appeals last week ruled in favor of pleasure brand LELO in the company's ongoing dispute with Satisfyer parent company EIS GmbH.

Eroutique Relaunches Site Through YourPaysitePartner

Eroutique has relaunched its official website through YourPaysitePartner (YPP).

Update: Pornhub Will Not Block Ohio, Despite AV Law

Pornhub parent company Aylo will not block access to its websites in Ohio, despite new state age verification rules that came into effect Sept. 30.

Pineapple Support, Pornhub to Host 'ADHD-Friendly' Support Group

Pineapple Support and Pornhub are hosting a free online support group for performers with ADHD.

Judge Dismisses Some Claims in 'Children of Pornhub' Trafficking Suit

A United States district judge on Friday dismissed some but not all claims against Aylo in a long-running case involving CSAM allegations featured in the influential 2020 New York Times article “The Children of Pornhub.”

FSC Sets Key Dates, Qualifiers for December Board of Directors Election

The Free Speech Coalition (FSC) today announced key dates and qualifiers for its upcoming Board of Directors election.

Show More