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Indiana introduces age/ID verification for porn whilst Pornhub blocks itself in Texas
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| | 15th March 2024
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| See article from xbiz.com See
article from beaumontenterprise.com |
Indiana's Republican governor, Eric Holcomb, has signed into law the state's version of the age/ID verification bills being sponsored around the country by anti-porn religious conservatives. SB 17 requires age verification for material that Indiana
deems harmful to minors. The new law will take effect July 1. This bill stipulates that any website that displays 'material harmful to minors,' is required to use an age verification method to guarantee only adults are accessing the website, the
civil liberties group wrote. If the website fails to do so, the parents of a child harmed by the website's content can sue for damages. And, as passed in the Indiana House, the bill would also allow the Attorney General to sue companies who fail to
follow the law. SB 17 will undoubtedly have a chilling effect on free expression online. The legitimate fear of having personal information exposed may deter adults from accessing legal and consensual adult content, thereby limiting their freedom
to explore and express themselves in a private digital space, the ACLU of Indiana concluded. Indiana is the ninth U.S. state to pass a law mandating age/ID verification for viewing adult content.
Meanwhile in Texas, Pornhub has decided to voluntarily withdraw its content from the state. Texas was one of the earlier states to inflict age/ID verification but its enforcement was delayed by a legal case. That legal case has just been lost so Pornhub
has reverted to the self blocking policy implemented in other states with age/ID verification requirements. A judgment on March 8 from the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that Texas can enforce a new law requiring age-verification systems on porn
websites . Viewers who attempt to visit Pornhub.com are met with a statement from the site's owners, Aylo Global Entertainment, explaining the block: you may know, your elected officials in Texas are requiring
us to verify your age before allowing you access to our website, the statement reads in part. Not only does this impinge on the rights of adults to access protected speech, it fails strict scrutiny by employing the least effective and yet also most
restrictive means of accomplishing Texas' stated purpose of allegedly protecting minors.
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Meta says that it will soon restrict content for self declared under 18s and under 16s
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| 16th January 2024
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| See
article from parentstv.org See article from telecomlead.com
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The Wall Street Journal has reported that Meta plans to automatically restrict teen Instagram and Facebook accounts from content including videos and posts about self-harm, graphic violence and eating disorders. Under 18 accounts, based on the birth date
entered during sign-up, will automatically be placed into the most restrictive content settings. Teens under 16 won't be shown sexual content. Meta stated that these measures, expected to be implemented over the forthcoming weeks, are intended to
curate a more age-appropriate experience for young users. The heightened regulatory attention followed testimony in the U.S. Senate by a former Meta employee, Arturo Bejar, who claimed that the company was aware of the harassment and other harms
faced by teens on its platforms but failed to take appropriate action. |
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Ohio law requiring parental permission to use social media has been blocked by a judge
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| 11th January 2024
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| See
article from eu.dispatch.com
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An Ohio state law intended to restrict children's social media use by requiring parental permission was slated to go into effect next week but has been stopped by a judge. U.S. District Court Judge Algenon L. Marbley issued a temporary restraining
order Tuesday to block the law from going into effect for now, after a group representing social media companies filed a federal lawsuit earlier this month. Ohio's Social Media Parental Notification Act was passed last year and would have made it
so parents have to allow children under the age of 16 to use certain social media sites. It would apply to new accounts being created on gaming platforms, message boards and social media companies such as Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, YouTube and Snapchat
and requires them to get verifiable parental permission for children under age 16 to create new accounts on the sites. But a trade group representing Meta (the parent company of Facebook and Instagram), TikTok and other tech companies filed a
federal lawsuit in early January claiming that the Ohio law is too broad and is in violation of the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution. |
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US senator introduces national internet censorship bill requiring age/ID verification for porn sites
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| 16th November 2023
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| See article from avn.com
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US Senator Mike Lee, R-UT, has reintroduced a bill in the U.S. Senate that would make it federal law for all adult websites to verify their users' ages. The bizarrely titled Shielding Children's Retinas from Egregious Exposure on the Net (SCREEN) Act
would require all pornography and adult entertainment websites with users in the United States to deploy reasonable age verification methods from third-party providers. Supporters of the bill include software company Envoc, which provides ID
verification software and anti-porn groups, such as the National Center on Sexual Exploitation, National Decency Coalition, Enough Is Enough, and Culture Reframed. House Representative Mary Miller, R-Ill., introduced a companion bill in the House
of Representatives. The SCREEN Act requires the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) enforce elements of the bill that would require a porn site, like Pornhub, xHamster, and Xvideos, to verify ages. FTC is also required to conduct regular audits of the
parent companies affected by the act to ensure compliance and to promulgate rules based on the statutes of the bill if it were to become law. The SCREEN Act competes with the Kids Online Safety Act (KOSA). This requires an expansive overhaul of trust
and safety protocols for web platforms. If adopted into law, KOSA would require Congress to coordinate with the executive branch, namely the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, to review the benefits and shortcomings of nationwide age
verification requirements for websites. |
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