State Rep. Ben Robbins (R-Sylacauga) thinks the reaction from some pornography websites to a new law that goes into effect in October is already proving that the law was needed.
The Alabama Legislature passed Robbins’ “Porn ID” bill earlier this year. The law requires distributors of sexual material to display warnings about the dangers of pornography and verify users are 18 years of age or older before accessing explicit content.
The lawmaker said some of the online porn websites are already warning visitors that they will be pulling down their sites in Alabama because of the new law.
Robbins discussed the issue Wednesday on WVNN’s “The Dale Jackson Show.”
“It does make you wonder what their business model is. If it’s well, we can’t operate if we can’t let minors view porn,” Robbins argued. “I mean, what is your business model, other than getting young children addicted to your product?”
Robbins said the new law just makes sense for a world where children are spending more of their time on the internet.
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“And I think it means it’s successful,” he said. “I mean, part of what we wanted to do was modernize. In essence, we modernized a lot, we modernized it to work in the virtual world. You can’t just walk into a adult store, just if you’re 12, and buy whatever you want to, but you could enter and access a website at 12 and watch the most vile things without any oversight by any by any company or entity just holding them accountable to say, ‘Hey, you’re peddling a dangerous product that affects the mental development of children, and you’ve got to make sure you don’t let children own or buy your product.”
The lawmaker emphasized that he will continue to try and pass legislation aimed a protecting minors in Alabama.
“But I think that this is pervasive across all platforms,” he explained, “and I was happy to see that Senator Britt filed her bill yesterday related to scrolling and dark patterns on social media platforms. I think that it’s a broader picture that we have to look at, and what we passed in Alabama is just one small piece of this much bigger picture of this tech world that is going after children.”
Yaffee is a contributing writer to Yellowhammer News and hosts “The Yaffee Program” weekdays 9-11 a.m. on WVNN. You can follow him on X @Yaffee
