Lawmakers discuss requiring age verification for viewing online pornography

by Robin Opsahl, Iowa Capital Dispatch
January 23, 2024

Iowa lawmakers and lobbyists at a legislative meeting all spoke in support of preventing children from accessing pornographic materials online, but some disagreed about the best way to implement effective regulations.

Republican legislators agreed to advance House File 2051 after a House subcommittee meeting Tuesday. The bill would create civil liability for commercial entities and social media platforms that “knowingly or intentionally” publish or disseminate obscene material to people under age 18. Companies would be held liable if their platform does not implement an age verification method before allowing individuals to access obscene material.

Chuck Hurley, an advocate with The Family Leader, a conservative Christian organization, thanked lawmakers for bringing forward legislation to limit access to pornographic material. He brought up statements made by UNICEF, the United Nations Children’s Fund, which advocated for restricting minors’ access to pornography because of the negative mental health and associated risks that come with viewing obscene material at young ages.

“Kids are vulnerable and you all have an opportunity to really do something to protect them,” Hurley said.

The legislation, introduced by Rep. Jeff Shipley, R-Birmingham, is not the only proposal aimed at preventing minors from accessing online pornography being discussed this session. Gov. Kim Reynolds plans to introduce legislation similar to a law in Utah that requires age verification to access websites in which more than one-third of the content is pornographic.

News organizations, social media and search engines would be exempt under the governor’s plan.

The bill discussed in subcommittee would focus on social media platforms. Some lobbyists said while they support the intent of the legislation, there were concerns about the focus and mechanics being proposed. Keenan Crow with One Iowa, an LGBTQ advocacy organization, said age verification requirements have not worked in other states.

“Any time folks come in from a state and say, ‘Let’s institute an age verification program,’ all that means is we’re going to block every user under the age of 18,” Crow said. “Because there’s no mechanism that can reliably provide that age verification. It simply does not exist.”

Utah’s age verification law is being challenged by multiple tech companies. Utah’s governor pushed back its enactment date to Oct. 1, 2024.

Crow said there are also concerns about the bill targeting social media while not restricting access to pornography websites, or preventing minors from accessing news or other information on websites that may contain explicit material. Other advocates with technology or media organizations called for amendments to the bill, such as adding the one-third obscene material requirement, to ensure their clients could comply with the law.

Rep. Megan Srinivas, D-Des Moines, a member of the subcommittee, said she did not sign off on the bill because of these remaining questions.

“We do need to make sure that we aren’t doing things that are dangerous to our youth,” Srinivas said. “I do worry that the wording in here is a little bit broad and that we need to work on it a bit more. We don’t want to have these unintended consequences, such as preventing people from seeing accurate news information or being able to be educated on important parts of our government.”

Rep. Bill Gustoff, R-Des Moines, said the concerns brought up during the meeting would be discussed by the House Judiciary Committee.

“The intent is great, we don’t want to cast too broad of a net,” Gustoff said. “And I’ve actually talked to the author of the bill too, Rep. Shipley, he understands those concerns and is happy to work with us on that.”

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