Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Committee hears age‑verification proposal for material harmful to minors; industry seeks clarifications
Summary
SB648 would require commercial websites and apps with material 'harmful to minors' to use strict age verification; supporters cited research and a recent court decision, while industry and booksellers warned of scope, definition and implementation problems.
A Senate hearing on a proposal to require commercial websites and apps to verify users' ages before permitting access to material deemed harmful to minors drew broad testimony from citizens, faith groups, industry and booksellers.
Senator Sandra Reardon introduced the bill and described an amendment that removes a private right of action and restores the ability to use Section 230 defenses. Reardon told the committee the bill would require operators of commercial websites or apps whose content meeting the bill’s threshold is more than one-third of the site to verify that users are 18 or older.
Steve Dupree, who also spoke earlier, said the concept grew from judicial…
Already have an account? Log in
Subscribe to keep reading
Unlock the rest of this article — and every article on Citizen Portal.
- Unlimited articles
- AI-powered breakdowns of topics, speakers, decisions, and budgets
- Instant alerts when your location has a new meeting
- Follow topics and more locations
- 1,000 AI Insights / month, plus AI Chat
