Connect with us

Hi, what are you looking for?

Legislature

Bill mandating default filters for minors’ phones heads to Ivey’s desk

The requirement will be placed on all devices manufactured after June 1 if signed into law.

STOCK

The Alabama Senate concurred Thursday on a bill that would require content filters to be enabled on internet-connected devices for minors.

While numerous new bills have advanced in this session to add safeguards against minors accessing adult sites and apps, this bill has been tried in the Legislature numerous times.

Senate Bill 186 by Sen. Clyde Chambliss, R-Prattville, would require tablets and smartphones to automatically enable content filters when activated by a minor. The bill would create civil liability for manufacturers who sell smartphones or tablets that do not provide the automatic filter if a minor then accesses any visual depictions of sexually explicit conduct. 

Individual citizens can also be held civilly liable under the law. If a person other than the minor’s parent or guardian intentionally removes or deactivates the filter and the minor access visual depictions of sexually explicit conduct.

Critics, including some lawmakers, have expressed concerns in the past that the bill could interfere with First Amendment rights, and similar bills have been challenged on such grounds in other states. Manufacturers have long argued that the bill unfairly targets them instead of the purveyors of explicit material.

Lawmakers have been taking a blanket approach to try to keep minors from accessing online pornography, passing age verification last session for adult websites, and other bills this session to require age verification when downloading apps. 

The requirement will be placed on all devices manufactured after June 1 if signed into law.

Advertisement. Scroll to continue reading.

Jacob Holmes is a reporter at the Alabama Political Reporter. You can reach him at [email protected]

More from APR

Courts

Alabama Always claims state commission retaliated for criticism and violated its First and Fourteenth Amendment rights during flawed licensing process.

Economy

With bans on vape and hemp products, Alabama lawmakers staged a performative session that punished small businesses, ignored veterans, and catered to lobbyists.

Opinion

As leader of the Alabama Senate, I have spent much of my time bringing laser-like focus to accomplishing this mission.

Governor

SB158 bars foreign driver’s licenses for voting and SB63 mandates biometric collection from illegal immigrants to boost safety.