WASHINGTON — A House subcommittee will hold a hearing next week on a slate of bills aimed at protecting minors online, including the SCREEN Act, which would make site-based age verification of users seeking to access adult content federal law.
On Tuesday, Congressman Brett Guthrie of Kentucky, who chairs the House Committee on Energy and Commerce, and Congressman Gus Bilirakis of Florida, who chairs the Subcommittee on Commerce, Manufacturing, and Trade, announced the Dec. 2 hearing, titled “Legislative Solutions to Protect Children and Teens Online.”
“One week from today, this Committee will begin advancing a suite of online safety bills to address the challenges facing our kids in the digital age,” Guthrie and Bilirakis said in a statement. “Parents and lawmakers both agree on the importance of enacting meaningful protections that can stand the test of time, so we look forward to this important first step.”
The hearing will focus on 19 different bills addressing issues such as privacy protection, gaming, messaging, how algorithms impact kids’ experiences online, bots and artificial intelligence. Perhaps most prominent on the agenda is the Kids Online Safety Act, which has undergone revisions due to past objections over now-softened language assigning a “duty of care” to online platforms.
The bill most directly impacting the adult industry, however, is the Shielding Children’s Retinas from Egregious Exposure on the Net (SCREEN) Act.
As XBIZ reported when Republican Sen. Mike Lee of Utah introduced the bill in February, the SCREEN Act’s provisions are similar to the AV requirements in numerous state laws and bills that have been passed or are being considered around the country. Violations of the bill's AV requirements would be treated as a violation of the Federal Trade Commission Act’s prohibition against unfair or deceptive acts or practices. Violators would therefore be subject to civil penalties of up to $10,000 for each violation.
Lee is arguably the most vocal anti-porn crusader in Congress, having floated measures aimed at reviving obscenity prosecutions and outlawing all sex work. His SCREEN Act has garnered support from a wide range of religious and conservative groups — as well as from the Age Verification Provider’s Association (AVPA), whose members stand to profit from the passage of AV laws around the world.
Earlier this year, industry attorney Corey Silverstein provided XBIZ readers with an in-depth analysis of the proposed legislation. He noted that similar laws have been struck down before, making it likely that the SCREEN Act would also face legal challenges.
"If it is deemed too broad or restrictive, courts may invalidate it as unconstitutional," Silverstein wrote. "However, if the law is perceived as narrowly tailored — e.g., focusing only on commercial porn sites and clear, workable verification methods — it might survive such challenges."