CV NEWS FEED // Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp this week signed into law a bill that requires age verification on adult websites to protect minors from viewing pornography–a law which likely will cause the sites to shut down in the state, since the sites themselves claim the verification is unenforceable.
Senate Bill 351, sponsored by Sen. Jason Anavitarte, aims at protecting children from cyberbullying and exposure to pornographic content, as well as regulates the usage of social media. Kemp signed the bill into law on April 23.
Advocacy organization American Principles Project hailed the legislation as a step in protecting children’s innocence.
“Today, children are first exposed to online pornography on average at age 12. No sane person believes this is healthy or acceptable. Yet, for years our policymakers simply allowed the epidemic of porn use to spiral out of control, despite its numerous, destructive consequences,” stated American Principles Project Terry Schilling in a news release:
Now, thankfully, we are seeing real movement to change that. Age verification is a commonsense, popular solution to prevent underage access to adult websites. Requiring the porn industry to adhere to the same standards as alcohol and tobacco retailers and online gambling sites is a political no-brainer.
American Principles Project has been lobbying for similar legislation across the United States. Georgia is the 15th state to adopt legislation protecting minors from online pornography.
Schilling concluded, “We are grateful to Gov. Kemp and Georgia lawmakers for taking action to help families combat this problem. And we urge other states, as well as leaders in Washington, to join in taking this important step to protecting our kids’ innocence.”
