Florida bill that would force adult websites to verify age moves forward in House

Video above: State legislative session to discuss bills that impact children

TAMPA, Fla. (WFLA) — A Florida bill that would force adult websites to verify the ages of its visitors moved forward in the State House on Friday.

House Bill 3, also called “Online Access to Materials Harmful to Minors,” moved forward to the Judiciary Committee on Friday after moving through the Regulatory Reform & Economic Development Subcommittee a day earlier.

The bill would require “a commercial entity that publishes or distributes material harmful to minors on a website or application that contains a substantial portion of such material to perform reasonable age verification methods, prevent access to such material by minors, and provide methods for reporting unauthorized or unlawful access.”

The bill, as currently written, defines “substantial portion” as 33.3% or more of total content. It also defines “harmful to minors” as anything “the average person applying contemporary community standards would find, taken as a whole, appeals to the prurient interest; Depicts or describes, in a patently offensive way, sexual conduct as specifically defined in s. 847.001(19); and When taken as a whole, lacks serious literary, artistic, political, or scientific value for minors.”

Those websites would have to verify that anyone trying to view the material is 18 or older, and the verification must be done by a third-party company. The websites would also be required to provide an easy way for parents to report unauthorized access.

Websites would have five days after any report to block access from that particular minor.

Websites would be prohibited from retaining personal information for any time longer than necessary to verify age.

Websites could be forced to pay up to $50,000 per violation of the law, and could be sued for court costs and up to $10,000 in damages for not blocking a minor’s access.

If passed, the law would go into effect on July 1.

North Carolina passed a similar law that went into effect on Jan. 1. In response, adult website PornHub blocked access to its site from the state, saying the law is impossible to enforce, is not effective, and creates privacy concerns.