HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES STAFF ANALYSIS
BILL #: CS/CS/HB 3 Online Access to Materials Harmful to Minors
SPONSOR(S): Judiciary Committee, Regulatory Reform & Economic Development Subcommittee, Tramont
and others
TIED BILLS: HB 1491 IDEN./SIM. BILLS: SB 1792
REFERENCE ACTION ANALYST STAFF DIRECTOR or
BUDGET/POLICY CHIEF
1) Regulatory Reform & Economic Development 13 Y, 0 N, As CS Wright Anstead
Subcommittee
2) Judiciary Committee 21 Y, 0 N, As CS Leshko Kramer
SUMMARY ANALYSIS
Internet usage and mobile technology have become mainstream, especially among teens and young adults, which
has expanded the creation and dissemination of pornography. The majority of Americans, including minors, are
exposed to pornography online regularly, and 56 percent of American high school students have viewed
pornography in the last year.
Adolescents who view pornography:
Tend to have sexually permissive views, have more sexual partners in their lifetime, and are more likely to
have engaged in certain sexual acts;
Tend to display more aggression, have more traditional gender role attitudes, and view women as sex
objects;
Report feeling insecure about their ability to perform sexually and the way they look; and
Tend to reduce their pornography use as their self-confidence increases or their relationships with family
and friends improve.
Several states, including Louisiana, Utah, Arkansas, Mississippi, Montana, North Carolina, Texas, and Virginia,
have recently passed legislation to require websites that host obscen e material or other material harmful to minors
to verify the age of a visitor and block access to minors.
The bill requires a commercial entity that knowingly and intentionally publishes or distributes material harmful to
minors on a website or application, if the website or application contains a substantial portion of material harmful to
minors, to prohibit access to such material by any person younger than 18 years of age.
The bill requires such a commercial entity to perform reasonable age -verification methods to verify that the age of a
person attempting to access the material is 18 years of age or older. The reasonable age-verification method must
be conducted by a non-governmental, independent third-party not affiliated with the commercial entity, and any
information used to verify age must be deleted when the age is verified.
The bill requires a commercial entity to provide an easily accessible link or function on its homepage, landing page,
or age-verification page to allow a minor user or the confirmed parent or guardian of the minor user to report
unauthorized or unlawful access. The commercial entity must prohibit or block future access by the minor within five
days after receiving such a report.
The bill provides that, if a commercial entity violates the requirements for minor users, it is an unfair and deceptive
trade practice actionable under the Florida Deceptive and Unfair Trade Practice Act, solely by the Department of
Legal Affairs. The bill also allows for a private cause of action against a commercial entity that fails to prohibit or
block a minor from future access to material harmful to minors after a report of unauthorized or unlawful access.
The bill may have an indeterminate fiscal impact on state government and commercial entities.
The bill provides an effective date of July 1, 2024.
This docum ent does not reflect the intent or official position of the bill sponsor or House of Representatives .
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FULL ANALYSIS
I. SUBSTANTIVE ANALYSIS
A. EFFECT OF PROPOSED CHANGES:
Current Situation
Effects of Harmful Content on Children
Internet usage and mobile technology has become mainstream, especially among teens and young
adults.1
Because the Internet is not subject to regulations, it has emerged as a vehicle for
circulation of pornography. Pornographic images are available for consumption in the
privacy of one’s home via the Internet rather than in public adult bookstores or movie
theaters. Therefore, the accessibility, affordability, and anonymity have attracted a wider
audience. Research in the United States has shown that 66% of men and 41% of women
consume pornography on a monthly basis. An estimated 50% of all Internet traffic is
related to sex. These percentages illustrate that pornography is no longer an issue of
minority populations but a mass phenomenon that influences our society. 2
Many users come across pornography on the internet who are not seeking it, and others seek it out. 3
Adult websites such as Xvideos and Pornhub are among the most visited in the United States,
receiving an average of 693.5 million and 639.6 million monthly visitors, respectively. Of the top 20
most visited websites, four are classified as pornographic.4
Twenty-seven percent of young adults first view pornography before the onset of puberty and 70
percent of teens accidentally stumble upon pornography online5 with trends showing teens are
generally experiencing an increase in unwanted exposure to pornographic content online. 6 A sample of
American high school students in 2021 found that 56 percent viewed pornography in 2020.7
Research suggests that adolescents who view pornography tend to have more sexually permissive
attitudes, have more sexual partners in their lifetime, and are more likely to have engaged in certain
sexual acts.8 Similarly, adolescents who viewed pornography tended to display more aggression, have
1 Eric W. Owens et al., The Impact of Internet Pornography on Adolescents: A Review of the Research , 19(1-2) SEXUAL A DDICT ION &
COMPULSIVIT Y 99, 99-100 (2012); See also PEW RESEARCH CENT ER, Teens, Social Media & Technology Overview 2015:
Smartphones Facilitate Shifts in Communication Landscape for Teens, http://www.pewinternet.org/2015/04/09/teens -social-media-
technology-2015/ (last visited Jan. 7, 2024).
2 Simone Kuhn, PhD, and Jurgen Gallinat, PhD, Brain Structure and Functional Connectivity Associated With Pornography
Consumption, The Brain on Porn, JAMA Psychiatry, JAMA Network, (July 2014),
https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamapsychiatry/fullarticle/1874574
3 Josh McDowell Ministry, THE PORN PHENOMENON: THE IMPACT OF PORNOGRAPHY IN T HE DIGITAL A GE (2016), research summary
available at https://www.barna.com/research/porn-in-the-digital-age-new-research-reveals-10-trends/ (last visited Jan. 7, 2024).
4 Joel Khalil, These are the most popular websites right now - and they might just surprise you (October 2023 edition), TechRadar,
https://www.techradar.com/news/porn-sites-attract-more-visitors-than-netflix-and-amazon-youll-never-guess-how-many (last visited
Jan. 8, 2024).
5 KAISER FAMILY FOUNDAT ION, Generation Rx.com: How Young People Use the Internet for Health Information , December 2001, at
12, available at https://kaiserfamilyfoundation.files.wordpress.com/2001/ 11/ 3202-genrx-report.pdf.
6 Kimberly J. Mitchell et al., Trends in Youth Reports of Sexual Solicitations, Harassment and Unwanted Exposure to Pornography on
the Internet, 40 JOURNAL OF A DOLESCENT HEALTH 116, 124 (2007), available at: http://unh.edu/ccrc/pdf/CV135.pdf (last visited Jan.
7, 2023).
7 Amanda Giordano, What to Know About Adolescent Pornography Exposure, Psychology Today (Feb. 27, 2022),
https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/understanding -addiction/202202/what-know-about-adolescent-pornography-exposure (last
visited Jan. 7, 2024).
8 Debra K. Braun-Corville & Mary Rojas, Exposure to Sexually Explicit Web Sites and Adolescent Sexual Attitudes and Behaviors,
45(2) J A DOLESCENT HEALTH 153, 156-162 (2009). See also Jane D. Brown & Kelly L. L’Engles, X-Rated: Sexual Attitudes and
Behaviors Associated with U.S. Early Adolescents’ Exposure to Sexually Explicit Media, 36 COMM. RSCH. 129-151 (2009). Contra.
Marie-Therese Luder et al., Associations between Online Pornography and Sexual Behavior among Adolescents: Myth or Reality?,
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more traditional gender role attitudes, and view women as sex objects. 9 Due to the correlational nature
of these findings, researchers were unable to determine if these characteristics were precursors to
pornography use or a consequence of it;10 however, they were able to identify pornography use as a
strong exacerbating factor in individuals who have preexisting markers for sexual aggression. 11
Adolescents who view pornography report feeling insecure about their ability to perform sexually and
how they look, and tend to decrease their pornography use as their self-confidence increases or they
develop positive relationships with friends and family.12
Additionally, studies have shown that problematic or excessive pornography use actually changes the
reward circuitry in people’s brains leading to a loss of self-control, which can lead to addiction.13
Eight states have recently passed laws to require websites with pornography to verify the age of a
visitor and block access to minors.14 Those states include Louisiana,15 Utah, Arkansas, Mississippi,
Montana, North Carolina, Texas, and Virginia.
Obscenity
“Sexual expression which is indecent but not obscene is protected by the First Amendment.”16
However, material that is obscene does not enjoy the same constitutional protections. 17 In determining
whether sexual expression is obscene and thus outside the protection of the First Amendment, a court
may apply the Miller18 test, which considers whether the average person, applying contemporary
community standards, would find that the work, taken as a whole, appeals to the prurient interests and
that the work depicts or describes, in a patently offensive way, sexual conduct specifically defined by . .
40(5) A RCHIVES OF SEXUAL BEHAVIOR 1027-1035 (2011) (finding that pornography use had no association with early sexual imitation
or risky sexual behaviors).
9 Eileen M. Alexy et al., Pornography as a Risk Marker for an Aggressive Pattern of Behavior among Sexually Reactive Children and
Adolescents, 14(6) J A M. PSYCHIAT RIC NURSES A SS’N 442, 450 (2009). See also Elisabet Haggstrom-Nordin et al., Experiences of and
Attitudes towards Pornography among a Group of Swedish High School Students, 14 EURO. J CONT RACEPTION AND REPRODUCTIVE
HEALT H CARE 277, 277-284 (2009).
10 Owens, Supra note 1, at 107.
11 Michelle L. Ybarra & Kimberly J. Mitchell, X-Rated Material and Perpetration of Sexually Aggressive Behavior Among Children
and Adolescents: Is There a Link?, 8 CyberPsychology and Behavior 473, 473-486 (2011). See generally, Paul J. Wright, A Meta-
Analysis of Pornography Consumption and Actual Acts of Sexual Aggression in General Population Studies, 66(1) J COMM 183-205
(2016).
12 Lotta Lofgren-Martenson & Sven-Axel Mason, Lust, Love, and Life: A Qualitative Study of Swedish Adolescents’ Perceptions and
Experiences with Pornography 47 J SEX RSCH. 568, 575 (2010).
13 Simone Kuhn & Jurgen Gallinat, Brain Structure and Functional Connectivity Associated with Pornography Consumption, 71(7)
JAMA PSYCHIAT RY 827, 827-834, available at
https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamapsychiatry/fullarticle/1874574?ut m_source=Silverchair%20Information%20Systems&utm_ me
dium=email&ut m_campaign=JAMAPsychiatry:OnlineFirst05/ 28/ 2014#Discussion (last visited Jan. 7, 2024).
14 Dmytro Sashchuk, Age verification regulations in the United States of America, Veriff, (Nov. 15, 2023),
https://www.veriff.com/fraud/learn/age-verification-legalization-in -the-united-states-of-america (last visted Jan. 7, 2024); Los Angeles
Blade, Pornhub blocks access as new age verification laws take effect , Jan. 7, 2024,
https://www.losangelesblade.com/2024/01/07/pornhub-blocks-access-as-new-age-verification-laws-take-effect/ (last visited Jan. 7,
2024).
15 The personal story of pop-singer Billie Eilish inspired the law in Louisiana which blocks access to pornography for minors. Eilish
reported that she watched a lot of porn when she was about 11 years old. Eilish believes that the pornography had a drastic effect on
her brain and feels “incredibly devastated that I was exposed to so much porn.” The author of the bill, a sex addiction thera pist, said “I
just thought how courageous it was. … It just sort of re-emphasized to me what a problem this is, especially for our children.” The
Guardian, Billie Eilish says watching porn as a child ‘destroyed my brain’, (Dec. 14, 2021)
https://www.theguardian.com/music/2021/dec/15/billie-eilish-says-watching-porn-gave-her-nightmares-and-destroyed-my-
brain#:~:text=%E2%80%9CI%20thin k%20it%20really%20destroyed,was%20so%20violent%20and%20abusive (last visited Jan. 13,
2024); Marc Novicoff, A Simple Law Is Doing the Impossible. It’s Making the Online Porn Industry Retreat., Politico Magazine (Aug.
8, 2024), https://www.politico.com/news/magazine/2023/08/08/age-law-online-porn-00110148 (last visited Jan. 8, 2024).
16 Simmons v. State, 944 So. 2d 317, 323 (Fla. 2006).
17 Id.
18 Miller v. California, 413 U.S. 15, 23 (1973).
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. applicable state law; and whether the work, taken as a whole, lacks serious literary, artistic, political,
or scientific value.19,20
The Florida Supreme Court has determined that the applicable community standard to be used in
determining obscenity is the local county standard, explaining that such a standard “permits maximum
protection of materials acceptable in cosmopolitan areas while not forcing more conservative areas to
accept public depiction of conduct they find obscene.” 21
Florida Definition of Material Harmful to Minors
Section 847.001(7), F.S., defines as “harmful to minors” any reproduction, imitation, characterization,
description, exhibition, presentation, or representation, of whatever kind or form, depicting nudity,
sexual conduct, or sexual excitement when it:
Predominantly appeals to a prurient, shameful, or morbid interest;
Is patently offensive to prevailing standards in the adult community as a whole with respect to
what is suitable material or conduct for minors; and
Taken as a whole, is without serious literary, artistic, political, or scientific value for minors.
Section 847.001(19), F.S., defines “sexual conduct” as any actual or simulated sexual intercourse,
deviate sexual intercourse, sexual bestiality, masturbation, or sadomasochistic abuse; actual or
simulated lewd exhibition of the genitals; actual physical contact with a person’s clothed or unclothed
genitals, pubic area, buttocks, or, if such person is a female, breast with the intent to arouse or gratify
the sexual desire of either party; or any act or conduct which constitutes sexual battery or simulates
that sexual battery is being or will be committed.22
Section 847.001(20), F.S., defines “sexual excitement” as the condition of the human male or female
genitals when in a state of sexual stimulation or arousal.
The Florida Supreme Court has found that images in the aid of legitimate scientific or educational
purposes, such as a depiction of Michelangelo's David transmitted for an art history class, and an
illustration of human genitalia intended for a sex education or biology class, are not materials harmful to
minors.23
Laws Related to Material Harmful to Minors
There are several federal laws that prohibit access or distribution of harmful or obscene material to a
minor:
Schools and libraries that receive discounts for Internet access or internal connections through
an E-rate program must:
o “Certify that they block or filter Internet access” to pictures that are (a) obscene, (b) child
pornography, and (c) harmful to minors on computers accessed by minors; and
o Implement an Internet safety policy.24
It is a crime to knowingly use a misleading domain name on the Internet with the intent to
deceive a minor into viewing material that is harmful to minors.25
It a crime to knowingly embed words or digital images into the source code of a website with the
intent to deceive a minor into viewing material that is harmful to minors. 26
19 2025 Emery Hwy, L.L.C. v. Bibb County, Georgia, 377 F. Supp. 2d 1310 (M.D. Georgia 2005).
20 S. 847.001(12), F.S. (A mother’s breastfeeding of her baby is not under any circumstance “obscene”).
21 Johnson v. State, 351 So. 2d 10, 11 (Fla. 1977).
22 A mother’s breastfeeding of her baby does not under any circumstances constitute “sexual conduct.”
23 Simmons v. State, 944 So. 2d 317, 329 (Fla. 2006).
24 Federal Communications Commission, Children’s Internet Protection Act (CIPA),
https://www.fcc.gov/consumers/guides/childrens-Internet-protection-act (last visited Jan. 7, 2024).
25 The definition of “harmful to minors ” parallels the Miller test for obscenity, as applied to minors. 18 U.S.C. § 2252B.
26 18 U.S.C. § 2252C.
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It is a crime to knowingly make any Internet communication for commercial purposes that is
available to any minor and that includes any material harmful to minors.27
Additionally, s. 847.0138, F.S., prohibits a person from knowingly transmitting or believing that he or