I
119THCONGRESS
1
STSESSION H. R. 1623
To require certain interactive computer services to adopt and operate tech-
nology verification measures to ensure that users of the platform are
not minors, and for other purposes.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
FEBRUARY26, 2025
Mrs. M
ILLERof Illinois (for herself, Mr. VANDREW, Mr. BRECHEEN, Mr.
L
AMALFA, Mr. AUSTINSCOTTof Georgia, Mr. KENNEDYof Utah, Mr.
C
RANE, Mr. ADERHOLT, Mr. BABIN, and Mr. ROSE) introduced the fol-
lowing bill; which was referred to the Committee on Energy and Com-
merce
A BILL
To require certain interactive computer services to adopt
and operate technology verification measures to ensure
that users of the platform are not minors, and for other
purposes.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-1
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Shielding Children’s 4
Retinas from Egregious Exposure on the Net Act’’ or the 5
‘‘SCREEN Act’’. 6
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SEC. 2. FINDINGS; SENSE OF CONGRESS. 1
(a) F
INDINGS.—Congress finds the following: 2
(1) Over the 3 decades preceding the date of 3
enactment of this Act, Congress has passed several 4
bills to protect minors from access to online porno-5
graphic content, including title V of the Tele-6
communications Act of 1996 (Public Law 104–104) 7
(commonly known as the ‘‘Communications Decency 8
Act’’), section 231 of the Communications Act of 9
1934 (47 U.S.C. 231) (commonly known as the 10
‘‘Child Online Protection Act’’), and the Children’s 11
Internet Protection Act (title XVII of division B of 12
Public Law 106–554). 13
(2) With the exception of the Children’s Inter-14
net Protection Act (title XVII of division B of Public 15
Law 106–554), the Supreme Court of the United 16
States has struck down the previous efforts of Con-17
gress to shield children from pornographic content, 18
finding that such legislation constituted a ‘‘compel-19
ling government interest’’ but that it was not the 20
least restrictive means to achieve such interest. In 21
Ashcroft v. ACLU, 542 U.S. 656 (2004), the Court 22
even suggested at the time that ‘‘blocking and fil-23
tering software’’ could conceivably be a ‘‘primary al-24
ternative’’ to the requirements passed by Congress. 25
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(3) In the nearly 2 decades since the Supreme 1
Court of the United States suggested the use of 2
‘‘blocking and filtering software’’, such technology 3
has proven to be ineffective in protecting minors 4
from accessing online pornographic content. The 5
Kaiser Family Foundation has found that filters do 6
not work on 1 in 10 pornography sites accessed in-7
tentionally and 1 in 3 pornography sites that are 8
accessed unintentionally. Further, it has been proven 9
that children are able to bypass ‘‘blocking and fil-10
tering’’ software by employing strategic searches or 11
measures to bypass the software completely. 12
(4) Additionally, Pew Research has revealed 13
studies showing that only 39 percent of parents use 14
blocking or filtering software for their minor’s online 15
activities, meaning that 61 percent of children only 16
have restrictions on their internet access when they 17
are at school or at a library. 18
(5) 17 States have now recognized pornography 19
as a public health hazard that leads to a broad 20
range of individual harms, societal harms, and pub-21
lic health impacts. 22
(6) It is estimated that 80 percent of minors 23
between the ages of 12 to 17 have been exposed to 24
pornography, with 54 percent of teenagers seeking it 25
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out. The internet is the most common source for mi-1
nors to access pornography with pornographic 2
websites receiving more web traffic in the United 3
States than Twitter, Netflix, Pinterest, and 4
LinkedIn combined. 5
(7) Exposure to online pornography has created 6
unique psychological effects for minors, including 7
anxiety, addiction, low self-esteem, body image dis-8
orders, an increase in problematic sexual activity at 9
younger ages, and an increased desire among minors 10
to engage in risky sexual behavior. 11
(8) The Supreme Court of the United States 12
has recognized on multiple occasions that Congress 13
has a ‘‘compelling government interest’’ to protect 14
the physical and psychological well-being of minors, 15
which includes shielding them from ‘‘indecent’’ con-16
tent that may not necessarily be considered ‘‘ob-17
scene’’ by adult standards. 18
(9) Because ‘‘blocking and filtering software’’ 19
has not produced the results envisioned nearly 2 dec-20
ades ago, it is necessary for Congress to pursue al-21
ternative policies to enable the protection of the 22
physical and psychological well-being of minors. 23
(10) The evolution of our technology has now 24
enabled the use of age verification technology that is 25
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cost efficient, not unduly burdensome, and can be 1
operated narrowly in a manner that ensures only 2
adults have access to a website’s online pornographic 3
content. 4
(b) S
ENSE OFCONGRESS.—It is the sense of Con-5
gress that— 6
(1) shielding minors from access to online por-7
nographic content is a compelling government inter-8
est that protects the physical and psychological well- 9
being of minors; and 10
(2) requiring interactive computer services that 11
are in the business of creating, hosting, or making 12
available pornographic content to enact technological 13
measures that shield minors from accessing porno-14
graphic content on their platforms is the least re-15
strictive means for Congress to achieve its compel-16
ling government interest. 17
SEC. 3. DEFINITIONS. 18
In this Act: 19
(1) C
HILD PORNOGRAPHY ; MINOR.—The terms 20
‘‘child pornography’’ and ‘‘minor’’ have the mean-21
ings given those terms in section 2256 of title 18, 22
United States Code. 23
(2) C
OMMISSION.—The term ‘‘Commission’’ 24
means the Federal Trade Commission. 25
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(3) COVERED PLATFORM .—The term ‘‘covered 1
platform’’— 2
(A) means an entity— 3
(i) that is an interactive computer 4
service; 5
(ii) that— 6
(I) is engaged in interstate or 7
foreign commerce; or 8
(II) purposefully avails itself of 9
the United States market or a portion 10
thereof; and 11
(iii) for which it is in the regular 12
course of the trade or business of the enti-13
ty to create, host, or make available con-14
tent that meets the definition of harmful to 15
minors under paragraph (4) and that is 16
provided by the entity, a user, or other in-17
formation content provider, with the objec-18
tive of earning a profit; and 19
(B) includes an entity described in sub-20
paragraph (A) regardless of whether— 21
(i) the entity earns a profit on the ac-22
tivities described in subparagraph (A)(iii); 23
or 24
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(ii) creating, hosting, or making avail-1
able content that meets the definition of 2
harmful to minors under paragraph (4) is 3
the sole source of income or principal busi-4
ness of the entity. 5
(4) H
ARMFUL TO MINORS.—The term ‘‘harmful 6
to minors’’, with respect to a picture, image, graphic 7
image file, film, videotape, or other visual depiction, 8
means that the picture, image, graphic image file, 9
film, videotape, or other depiction— 10
(A)(i) taken as a whole and with respect to 11
minors, appeals to the prurient interest in nu-12
dity, sex, or excretion; 13
(ii) depicts, describes, or represents, in a 14
patently offensive way with respect to what is 15
suitable for minors, an actual or simulated sex-16
ual act or sexual contact, actual or simulated 17
normal or perverted sexual acts, or lewd exhi-18
bition of the genitals; and 19
(iii) taken as a whole, lacks serious, lit-20
erary, artistic, political, or scientific value as to 21
minors; 22
(B) is obscene; or 23
(C) is child pornography. 24
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(5) INFORMATION CONTENT PROVIDER ; INTER-1
ACTIVE COMPUTER SERVICE .—The terms ‘‘informa-2
tion content provider’’ and ‘‘interactive computer 3
service’’ have the meanings given those terms in sec-4
tion 230(f) of the Communications Act of 1934 (47 5
U.S.C. 230(f)). 6
(6) S
EXUAL ACT; SEXUAL CONTACT .—The 7
terms ‘‘sexual act’’ and ‘‘sexual contact’’ have the 8
meanings given those terms in section 2246 of title 9
18, United States Code. 10
(7) T
ECHNOLOGY VERIFICATION MEASURE .— 11
The term ‘‘technology verification measure’’ means 12
technology that— 13
(A) employs a system or process to deter-14
mine whether it is more likely than not that a 15
user of a covered platform is a minor; and 16
(B) prevents access by minors to any con-17
tent on a covered platform. 18
(8) T
ECHNOLOGY VERIFICATION MEASURE 19
DATA.—The term ‘‘technology verification measure 20
data’’ means information that— 21
(A) identifies, is linked to, or is reasonably 22
linkable to an individual or a device that identi-23
fies, is linked to, or is reasonably linkable to an 24
individual; 25
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(B) is collected or processed for the pur-1
pose of fulfilling a request by an individual to 2
access any content on a covered platform; and 3
(C) is collected and processed solely for the 4
purpose of utilizing a technology verification 5
measure and meeting the obligations imposed 6
under this Act. 7
SEC. 4. TECHNOLOGY VERIFICATION MEASURES. 8
(a) C
OVEREDPLATFORMREQUIREMENTS.—Begin-9
ning on the date that is 1 year after the date of enactment 10
of this Act, a covered platform shall adopt and utilize tech-11
nology verification measures on the platform to ensure 12
that— 13
(1) users of the covered platform are not mi-14
nors; and 15
(2) minors are prevented from accessing any 16
content on the covered platform that is harmful to 17
minors. 18
(b) R
EQUIREMENTS FOR AGEVERIFICATIONMEAS-19
URES.—In order to comply with the requirement of sub-20
section (a), the technology verification measures adopted 21
and utilized by a covered platform shall do the following: 22
(1) Use a technology verification measure in 23
order to verify a user’s age. 24
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(2) Provide that requiring a user to confirm 1
that the user is not a minor shall not be sufficient 2
to satisfy the requirement of subsection (a). 3
(3) Make publicly available the verification 4
process that the covered platform is employing to 5
comply with the requirements under this Act. 6
(4) Subject the Internet Protocol (IP) address-7
es, including known virtual proxy network IP ad-8
dresses, of all users of a covered platform to the 9
technology verification measure described in para-10
graph (1) unless the covered platform determines 11
based on available technology that a user is not lo-12
cated within the United States. 13
(c) C
HOICE OFVERIFICATIONMEASURES.—A cov-14
ered platform may choose the specific technology 15
verification measures to employ for purposes of complying 16
with subsection (a), provided that the technology 17
verification measure employed by the covered platform 18
meets the requirements of subsection (b) and prohibits a 19
minor from accessing the platform or any information on 20
the platform that is obscene, child pornography, or harm-21
ful to minors. 22
(d) U
SE OFTHIRDPARTIES.—A covered platform 23
may contract with a third party to employ technology 24
verification measures for purposes of complying with sub-25
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section (a) but the use of such a third party shall not re-1
lieve the covered platform of its obligations under this Act 2
or from liability under this Act. 3
(e) R
ULE OFCONSTRUCTION.—Nothing in this sec-4
tion shall be construed to require a covered platform to 5
submit to the Commission any information that identifies, 6
is linked to, or is reasonably linkable to a user of the cov-7
ered platform or a device that identifies, is linked to, or 8
is reasonably linkable to a user of the covered platform. 9
(f) T
ECHNOLOGYVERIFICATIONMEASUREDATASE-10
CURITY.—A covered platform shall— 11
(1) establish, implement, and maintain reason-12
able data security to— 13
(A) protect the confidentiality, integrity, 14
and accessibility of technology verification 15
measure data collected by the covered platform 16
or a third party employed by the covered plat-17
form; and 18
(B) protect such technology verification 19
measure data against unauthorized access; and 20
(2) retain the technology verification measure 21
data for no longer than is reasonably necessary to 22
utilize a technology verification measure or what is 23
minimally necessary to demonstrate compliance with 24
the obligations under this Act. 25
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SEC. 5. CONSULTATION REQUIREMENTS. 1
In enforcing the requirements under section 4, the 2
Commission shall consult with the following individuals, 3
including with respect to the applicable standards and 4
metrics for making a determination on whether a user of 5
a covered platform is not a minor: 6
(1) Individuals with experience in computer 7
science and software engineering. 8
(2) Individuals with experience in— 9
(A) advocating for online child safety; or 10
(B) providing services to minors who have 11
been victimized by online child exploitation. 12
(3) Individuals with experience in consumer 13
protection and online privacy. 14
(4) Individuals who supply technology 15
verification measure products or have expertise in 16
technology verification measure solutions. 17
(5) Individuals with experience in data security 18
and cryptography. 19
SEC. 6. COMMISSION REQUIREMENTS. 20
(a) I
NGENERAL.—The Commission shall— 21
(1) conduct regular audits of covered platforms 22
to ensure compliance with the requirements of sec-23
tion 4; 24
(2) make public the terms and processes for the 25
audits conducted under paragraph (1), including the 26
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processes for any third party conducting an audit on 1
behalf of the Commission; 2
(3) establish a process for each covered plat-3
form to submit only such documents or other mate-4
rials as are necessary for the Commission to ensure 5
full compliance with the requirements of section 4 6
when conducting audits under this section; and 7
(4) prescribe the appropriate documents, mate-8
rials, or other measures required to demonstrate full 9
compliance with the requirements of section 4. 10
(b) G
UIDANCE.— 11
(1) I
N GENERAL.—Not later than 180 days 12
after the date of enactment of this Act, the Commis-13
sion shall issue guidance to assist covered platforms 14
in complying with the requirements of section 4. 15
(2) L
IMITATIONS ON GUIDANCE .—No guidance 16
issued by the Commission with respect to this Act 17
shall confer any rights on any person, State, or lo-18
cality, nor shall operate to bind the Commission or 19
any person to the approach recommended in such 20
guidance. In any enforcement action brought pursu-21
ant to this Act, the Commission shall allege a spe-22
cific violation of a provision of this Act. The Com-23
mission may not base an enforcement action on, or 24
execute a consent order based on, practices that are 25
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alleged to be inconsistent with any such guidelines, 1
unless the practices allegedly violate a provision of 2
this Act. 3
SEC. 7. ENFORCEMENT. 4
(a) U
NFAIR ORDECEPTIVEACT ORPRACTICE.—A 5
violation of section 4 shall be treated as a violation of a 6
rule defining an unfair or deceptive act or practice under 7
section 18(a)(1)(B) of the Federal Trade Commission Act 8
(15 U.S.C. 57a(a)(1)(B)). 9
(b) P
OWERS OF THECOMMISSION.— 10
(1) I
N GENERAL.—The Commission shall en-11
force section 4 in the same manner, by the same 12
means, and with the same jurisdiction, powers, and 13
duties as though all applicable terms and provisions 14
of the Federal Trade Commission Act (15 U.S.C. 41 15
et seq.) were incorporated into and made a part of 16
this title. 17
(2) P
RIVILEGES AND IMMUNITIES .—Any person 18
who violates section 4 shall be subject to the pen-19
alties and entitled to the privileges and immunities 20
provided in the Federal Trade Commission Act (15 21
U.S.C. 41 et seq.). 22
(3) A
UTHORITY PRESERVED .—Nothing in this 23
Act shall be construed to limit the authority of the 24
Commission under any other provision of law. 25
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SEC. 8. GAO REPORT. 1
Not later than 2 years after the date on which cov-2
ered platforms are required to comply with the require-3
ment of section 4(a), the Comptroller General of the 4
United States shall submit to Congress a report that in-5
cludes— 6
(1) an analysis of the effectiveness of the tech-7
nology verification measures required under such 8
section; 9
(2) an analysis of rates of compliance with such 10
section among covered platforms; 11
(3) an analysis of the data security measures 12
used by covered platforms in the age verification 13
process; 14
(4) an analysis of the behavioral, economic, psy-15
chological, and societal effects of implementing tech-16
nology verification measures; 17
(5) recommendations to the Commission on im-18
proving enforcement of section 4(a), if any; and 19
(6) recommendations to Congress on potential 20
legislative improvements to this Act, if any. 21
SEC. 9. SEVERABILITY CLAUSE. 22
If any provision of this Act, or the application of such 23
a provision to any person or circumstance, is held to be 24
unconstitutional, the remaining provisions of this Act, and 25
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the application of such provisions to any other person or 1
circumstance, shall not be affected thereby. 2
Æ
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