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SALT LAKE CITY — The state of Utah could require cellphone and tablet manufacturers to enable obscenity filters on devices used by minors, under a proposal that received initial support from a Senate committee on Wednesday.
Sen. Todd Weiler, R-Woods Cross, the sponsor of SB104, told the Senate Judiciary, Law Enforcement and Criminal Justice Committee last week the Utah Legislature approved a similar bill several years ago, which would only have gone into effect if at least five other states adopted the same legislation.
Tired of waiting for action from other states — which have so far declined to enact similar laws — Weiler said he's ready for the Beehive State to move forward on its own, if need be.
"In the years since, we've made ourselves an outlier when it comes to social media and foreign websites," Weiler said, in reference to the state's high-profile social media regulations passed last year.
So, why not be an outlier when it comes to blocking pornography and other potentially harmful content on devices used by minors?
"The idea is to provide minors with protection and opportunities that they deserve as children to protect them from developing maybe an addiction to pornography before they're even adults and allow them time to develop good online habits while they're still young," the senator said.
Weiler said many phones made by major manufacturers come with preinstalled software to enable content filtering, but they are deactivated by default and sometimes not easily enabled by parents.
His bill would allow the state attorney general to sue manufacturers who don't comply with the requirements.
Elder Mervyn B. Arnold, an emeritus General Authority Seventy of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, spoke in favor of the bill during its initial hearing on Jan. 23. Elder Arnold — who joined Weiler as a private citizen to present the bill — praised efforts to keep children from coming across obscene material.
"This state has a fabulous record ... for being out in front and protecting our children and grandchildren from these kinds of issues," he said. "We do have a right to protect our children from obscene material."
SB104 was supported by several parents and sexual exploitation advocates, but an earlier version of the bill was held in committee last week after a handful of business groups expressed concern that the bill could present liability to businesses beyond just the manufacturers.
Dave Davis, president and chief legal officer for the Utah Retail Merchants Association, asked why lawmakers aren't waiting for other states before moving forward. The purpose of the earlier bill was to ensure "a critical mass for manufacturers so that Utah wouldn't be on an island, and you just don't get devices."
He also called the criminal penalties "very, very, very heavy-handed," and said he was concerned about the potential impact to retailers who sell phones. Representatives from mobile carriers AT&T and Verizon said they hoped to address concerns about liability to retail clerks who sell phones to Utahns.
"We're just opening the box," said Jodi Hart with AT&T.
Those with concerns all said they're supportive of keeping pornography out of the hands of minors, as did Dylan Hoffman with TechNet, a national network of technology companies.
"However," Hoffman said, "we must respectfully oppose this bill on the basis that we don't believe that there's a technically feasible way to comply."
Instead, he said parents can install free or commercial third-party software to block inappropriate content, and raised the possibility that manufacturers could block sales of smartphones and tablets in Utah as a way to avoid liability.
Hoffman on Wednesday said his organization "(agrees) wholeheartedly with the intent of this bill," but said he believes it may not pass constitutional muster.
Weiler acknowledged during the Jan. 23 hearing that the bill still needed some tweaks, and asked the committee to hold it without taking a vote while he worked to resolve them.
He introduced an amendment to the bill stating that nothing in it creates a cause of legal action against against the retailer of a device. The amendment also states that an adult — other than a parent or legal guardian — who disables a content filter on a minor's device "for the purpose of disseminating pornography to the minor" can be charged with a class A misdemeanor subject to a fine up to $5,000.
The bill cleared committee unanimously on Wednesday after lawmakers adopted Weiler's amendments.
The bill would allow the state attorney general to block a company's action in violation of the law and seek civil penalties up to $5,000 for each violation. The attorney general would also be allowed to seek to strip companies of their license to operate in the state if they are found in violation.
Weiler was the sponsor of a bill last session that required adult websites to verify the ages of users. The law sparked the ire of the pornography industry and PornHub has since blocked access to users in the state.
Industry groups and the Free Speech Coalition challenged the law in court, but their lawsuit was dismissed in August 2023.
Correction: A previous version identified Elder Arnold as a General Authority Seventy of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. He is an emeritus General Authority Seventy.
