Proposed SCREEN Act Could Protect Kids from Porn

Congress will consider passing federal age verification legislation this year via the SCREEN Act.

Short for “Shielding Children’s Retinas from Egregious Exposure on the Net,” the bill requires websites to verify the ages of American consumers trying to buy or access adult content.

Senator Mike Lee (UT) and Representative Marry Miller (IL) introduced the SCREEN Act in both chambers last month. They believe it will help parents shield their kids from pornography that, too frequently, is only a click away.

“It is time for our laws to catch up with technology,” Lee wrote in a press release announcing the bill. “The SCREEN Act addresses the urgent need to protect minors from exposure to online pornography and stop those who profit from stealing the innocence of America’s youth.”

Several pro-family organizations support the bill, including the Family Research Council.

The SCREEN Act, H.R. 1623 in the House and S. 737 in the Senate, would create new Federal Trade Commission (FTC) regulations on the sale and display of content “harmful to minors,” including what which:

• “Appeals to the prurient interest in nudity, sex or excretion.
• “Depicts, describes or represents in a patently offensive way, with respect to what is suitable for minors, an actual or simulated sexual act or sexual contact, actual or simulated normal or perverted sexual acts or lewd exhibition of the genitals.
• “Taken as a whole, lacks serious literary, artistic, political or scientific value as to minors.”

The bill would require online websites and companies to use age verification software to ensure people purchasing or accessing adult content aren’t minors.

Unlike some state age verification laws, the SCREEN Act would apply to all companies that offer inappropriate content — regardless how much or whether they turn a profit on it.  

The FTC would prosecute violations as “unfair or deceptive practices” under the existing Federal Trade Commission Act.

The SCREEN Act would protect kids from pornography, proponents say, a damaging vice more readily available to children than ever before. A shocking 80% of American kids will be exposed to pornography between 12 and 17 years old, according to a 2016 study by the Barna group.

A 2024 study from the Institute for Family Studies connects early exposures like these to “negative development outcomes,” including:

• “A greater acceptance of sexual harassment.
• “Sexual activity at an early age.
• “Acceptance of negative attitudes to women.
• “Unrealistic expectations [of sexual relationships].
• “Skewed attitudes of gender roles.
• “Greater levels of body dissatisfaction.
• “Rape myths [like allocating] responsibility for sexual assault to a female victim.
• “Sexual aggression.”

Perhaps the hardest thing for parents to hear is how poorly online filters protect children. An analysis by the Kaiser Family Foundation finds protective filters don’t work on 1 in 3 porn sites kids access unintentionally, and 1 in 10 porn sites they visit on purpose.

Miller believes the SCREEN Act will increase parents’ ability to shield their kids from porn

“As a mother of seven and grandmother to 20, I am committed to defending parental rights,” Miller wrote in support of the Act.

“The SCREEN Act provides parents with more control over their children’s online access and protects our kids from exposure to pornography.”

This is the second time Congress will deliberate the SCREEN Act. Legislators first introduced the bill in March 2023, when age verification legislation was still a novel idea. It failed nine months later.

The legislative landscape has changed dramatically since then. Twenty states have passed age verification laws, thirteen of which adopted them after December 2023.

Another sixteen states will deliberate age verification bills this year.

The SCREEN Act could also capitalize on momentum generated by last year’s Kid’s Online Safety Act (KOSA).

KOSA, which failed in December 2024, would have imposed sweeping child- protection regulations on social media sites. The bill passed the Senate, despite concerns that it failed to regulate porn companies and could increase federal censorship.

The SCREEN Act may win KOSA opponents by going after big porn and working within existing laws.

The Supreme Court’s ruling on Texas’ age verification law (HB 1181) could determine the SCREEN Act’s fate.

The Free Speech Coalition (FSC) represents more than a dozen pornography companies opposed to age verification legislation. The group sued Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton over HB 1181 in 2023, arguing the law infringed on pornographers’ free speech and citizens’ privacy.

Free Speech Coalition v. Paxton made its Supreme Court debut on January 13, 2025. The justices will decide what legal threshold HB 1181 must meet to be constitutional — strict scrutiny or rational-basis review.

Laws that infringe on constitutional rights are subject to strict scrutiny, the most stringent standard of judicial review. A law passes strict scrutiny if it serves a compelling government interest in the least violating way possible.

U.S. District Judge David Alan Ezra issued a preliminary inunction against HB 1181 in 2023 after finding the law likely would not pass strict scrutiny. The Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals overturned Ezra’s ruling in 2024, arguing the law only had to pass rational-basis review — an easier judicial test evaluating whether the proposed law serves a legitimate government interest.

The Supreme Court has historically used strict scrutiny to evaluate laws making it harder for adults to access matures content. In oral arguments, however, some justices expressed willingness to review that precedent.

Justice Thomas noted that previous Supreme Court rulings on pornography occurred in a “world of dial-up internet,” court reporter Amy Howe relayed.

“You would admit that we’re in an entirely different world [now],” Thomas remarked.

Justice Roberts further emphasized the variety and severity of adult materials available to children today. Howe paraphrases, “Not only is it much easier for teenagers to get access to porn, but the kind of porn that they can access has changed as well, becoming much more graphic.”

The Supreme Court’s decision in Free Speech Coalition v. Paxton is expected early this summer

Additional Articles and Resources

UPDATED: Pornography Age Verification Laws — What They Are and Which States have Them

A Mother’s Sensibility at the Supreme Court Regarding Pornography

Pornhub Quits Texas Over Age Verification Law

Kid’s Online Safety Act—What It Is and Why It’s a Big Deal