Alabama Senate approves device-filter bill intended to reduce minors’ accidental exposure to online pornography

The Alabama Senate passed Senate Bill 186 on April 17, 2025, requiring certain internet-enabled smartphones and tablets manufactured on or after June 1, 2025, to ship with a filter that is automatically enabled for users identified as minors during device activation. The bill passed on a voice and roll-call vote, 28 yeas to 5 nays.

The measure’s sponsor, Senator Chambliss, described the requirement as “a basic first step” and said the filtering technology already exists on many devices but needs to be turned on by default when a device is activated for a minor. “Requiring tech companies to turn on a filter is a basic first step. The filter’s already there,” Chambliss said on the Senate floor as he introduced the bill and read its text to colleagues.

Supporters pointed to testimony read into the record about children who were exposed to sexually explicit material at very young ages and detailed long-term harm. Chambliss read family accounts of minors who were exposed accidentally and said mandatory default filters would reduce accidental exposure. Opponents warned the bill may not stop all misuse, raised free‑speech questions and asked whether the policy would be effective across different platforms and older devices.

Under the enacted language devices must: include a filter; ask the user’s age during account setup; automatically enable the filter if the registering age is a minor; allow a password to be set for the filter; notify users when the filter blocks access; and allow non-minors with a password to deactivate and reactivate the filter. The bill defines device as a tablet or smartphone manufactured on or after 06/01/2025.

The measure creates both public‑enforcement and private remedies. The attorney general may sue in the public interest, seek injunctions, recover civil penalties (up to $5,000 per violation, cap $50,000 aggregate), and recover investigative expenses and attorneys’ fees. Parents or legal guardians may bring private actions and, at the court’s discretion where actual damages are difficult to calculate, recover liquidated damages of $50,000 per violation and other relief. The bill also provides for lesser remedies where manufacturers show a good‑faith effort to comply.

Supporters said the bill targets accidental exposure rather than adult access, and Chambliss and others emphasized that adults would still be able to access content if they intentionally deactivated the filter. The measure sets an effective date in the statutory text for device applicability on June 1, 2025.

Passage: final passage was moved by Senator Chambliss and carried 28–5. The Senate earlier adopted cloture on debate and later adopted the bill substitute prior to final passage.