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Utah Bill Requiring Porn Blockers On Phones Heads To Governor’s Desk

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• A Utah bill requiring phones and tablets have pornography blockers is heading to the governor’s desk. 
• The Device Filter Amendments, or HB 72, would require cellphones and tablets be sold with pornography filters already activated at time of purchase.
• Utah Governor Gary Herbert declared porn a public health crisis in Utah in April 2016, and the state passed a bill in 2020 requiring pornography in Utah to come with a warning label. 

The Utah state legislature passed a bill Thursday that seeks to block “material that is harmful to minors” by requiring phones have pornography blockers.

The Device Filter Amendments, or HB 72, would require cellphones and tablets be sold with pornography filters already activated at time of purchase. Sponsored by Republican Utah state Rep. Susan Pulsipher, the bill specifically notes that the filters are intended to block “material that is harmful to minors.”

Utah’s state senate passed HB 72 19-6 after the bill passed the house. It now heads to the governor’s desk.

The bill’s supporters admitted that the legislation is not perfect, according to the Salt Lake Tribune, but note that the state will have time to refine the bill since five other states must reportedly pass similar laws before HB 72 can go into effect.

“It gives us years, most likely, to iron out all of the problems, if there are problems,” Republican Utah state Sen. Todd Weiler said Thursday, the publication reported. “But it does send a strong message.”

Utah Gov. Gary Herbert declared porn a public health crisis in Utah in April 2016, and the state passed a bill in 2020 requiring pornography in Utah to come with a warning label.

“This isn’t just a religious moral issue,” Weiler said when the state declared porn a public health crisis. “Some people want to make this about sex education; no boy or girl needs to see those images to learn how families are created.”

The bill’s sponsor, Pulsipher, has said that HB 72 is intended to help parents who are not technologically savvy to protect their children from explicit content online, according to the Tribune.

“As much as the intentions of this bill are good, logistically it just won’t work,” Republican Utah state Sen. Jake Anderegg said, according to the Tribune. “And I think if we pass this bill, it sends a good message. … But we absolutely will be back here at some point in the future, maybe even in a special session to fix this.”

Anderegg said he had a “lot of trepidation” over the bill but ultimately voted for it, saying that he didn’t “want to be the guy” who voted against attempts to protect children. But Anderegg told his fellow lawmakers that HB 72 will not work as it requires that manufacturers turn on the pornography filters, according to the Tribune, though the devices will not yet have the software to do so.

Democratic Utah Sen. Kathleen Riebe said the bill may encounter constitutional issues due to vague wording and the potential that it will impose an undue burden on interstate commerce.

“You can have an old, dumb phone,” she said of children who are misusing their cellphones.

National Center on Sexual Exploitation president Dawn Hawkins praised Utah’s efforts in a Friday statement.

“Utah has passed a critical, common sense solution to help protect vulnerable children from accessing harmful pornographic content on phones and tablets,” Hawkins said.

“There are countless heartbreaking stories of the harm caused by children’s unhindered access to Internet devices—including the individual and familial trauma of pornography exposure and addiction and adult predators targeting and grooming kids online. We commend the Utah legislature for passing this bill that will aid parents in protecting their children from unwanted exposure to pornography,” Hawkins added.