INDIANAPOLIS — In late June, a judge blocked an Indiana law from going into effect, which would have forced Hoosiers to upload sensitive documents to pornographic sites to confirm they are 18 or older. That bill was granted a stay on Friday, meaning it will be passed as law.
Senate Bill 17 also allows Indiana residents to sue sites that contain “material harmful to minors,” according to the Free Speech Coalition.
According to court documents, the bill is virtually identical to one adopted by the state of Texas.
“We do not see any adequate reason why Texas’s law may be enforced pending
the decision on the merits in Free Speech Coalition v. Paxton, while Indiana’s may not be
enforced,” the docs read. “Functionally identical statutes should be treated the same while the Supreme Court considers the matter.”
Critics, including the judge who initially blocked the legislation, called it “likely facially unconstitutional” under the First Amendment. On the other hand, those in support of its passing—like Indiana Attorney General Todd Rokita—say it could protect minors from viewing sensitive material.
Court documents argued, “These tools (requiring age verification) also allow parents to adjust what their children can see and when such that younger children might be restricted from more websites than a child immediately before their 18th birthday”.
Documents acknowledged that filtering content may not necessarily be a catch-all method. They stated it’s not always widely used, it’s entirely possible to block content that does not require filtration accidentally, and children are capable of finding ways to get around content blocking.
In a post to X (formerly Twitter), the ACLU of Indiana said, “We’ll keep saying it: We can make the internet safer for minors without undermining the constitutional rights of adults.”Suggest a Correction
