Utah governor signs bill requiring porn filters on phones, tablets
Issues@Hand
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June 2021 – On March 26 Gov. Spencer Cox (R) signed H.B. 72 into law. The bill specifies that when a smartphone or tablet is activated in Utah, it must “automatically enable a filter, blocking material that is harmful to minors.” The bill follows the 2016 passage of a concurrent resolution of the Utah Legislature and the governor “recognizing pornography as a public health hazard leading to a broad spectrum of individual and public health impacts and societal harms.”
Before the new bill can take effect, five other states must pass similar legislation, a condition added to address concerns about the difficulty of implementation by a single state.
As the sponsor of the bill, Rep. Susan Pulsipher (R) clarified that, while it will protect children from pornography, adults are free to deactivate the content filter.
