US EXCLUSIVE: New GOP Bill Seeks To Take Sledgehammer To Online Porn Industry

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Adam Pack Contributor May 08, 2025 12:33 PM ET

Congressional Republicans will introduce legislation Thursday that would severely crack down on internet pornography and potentially deal a major blow to the online porn industry.

Republican Utah Sen. Mike Lee and Republican Illinois Rep. Mary Miller’s Interstate Obscenity Definition Act would create a national definition of obscenity under the Communications Act of 1934 and amend the Supreme Court’s 1973 “Miller Test” for determining what qualifies as obscene, according to background on the bill exclusively obtained by the Daily Caller News Foundation. The bill would pave the way for the prosecution of obscene content disseminated across state lines or from foreign countries and open the door to federal restrictions or bans regarding online porn. (RELATED: ‘Lost’ And ‘Unmoored’: How Porn Is Fueling The ‘Boy Crisis’ In America)

“Obscenity isn’t protected by the First Amendment, but hazy and unenforceable legal definitions have allowed extreme pornography to saturate American society and reach countless children,” Lee told the DCNF. “Our bill updates the legal definition of obscenity for the internet age so this content can be taken down and its peddlers prosecuted.”

Lee and Miller have been leading advocates in Congress to take on internet pornography at the federal level and protect children from exposure to online porn.

The lawmakers’ bill would make obscenity easier to prosecute by altering the three-pronged approach known as the Miller Test from the 1973 Supreme Court ruling in Miller v. California, according to the background on the bill. The Miller Test determined content to be obscene if it appeals to “prurient interests,” describes sexual conduct “in a patently obscene way” and lacks “serious literary, artistic, political or scientific value.”

Lee and Miller are seeking to update that definition in part by changing the second prong about portraying sexual conduct “in a patently offensive way … specifically defined by the applicable state law.” Instead, their bill would determine content to be obscene if it depicts or describes “actual or simulated sexual acts with the objective intent to arouse, titillate or gratify the sexual desires of a person.”

Lee has justified the legislation in part by arguing that the Supreme Court’s “Miller Test” is no longer applicable in an era where porn is primarily viewed online and easy for children to access.

“Applying a pre-internet standard to the internet era causes serious challenges,” background on the bill obtained by the DCNF argues.

Lee called for a porn ban on the platform X in February. He and Miller introduced the SCREEN Act that month which would require pornographic websites to use age verification technologies to prevent children from being exposed to online porn.

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The Utah Republican also unveiled complementary online safety legislation on May 1 to require app stores and developers to verify users’ ages when registering for an account and mandate parental approval for app downloads by minors.

“For too long, Big Tech has profited from app stores through which children in America and across the world access violent and sexual material while risking contact from online predators,” Lee said in a press release.

Lee previously introduced the Interstate Obscenity Definition Act in December 2022 and June 2024. The bill has failed to attract any co-sponsors and died in the then-Democratic-controlled Senate upon introduction in the prior Congresses.

Miller, the House sponsor of the bill, told the DCNF that online porn is “alarmingly destructive and far outside the bounds of protected free speech under the Constitution.”

“I’m proud to lead this effort in the House with Senator Lee to safeguard American families and ensure this dangerous material is kept out of our homes and off our screens,” Miller said.
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I mean I don't know if this is the answer but at least this is actually being talked about. Call me a boomer moralfag or whatever. I'm not saying ban porn, I'm saying it's way too fucking easy to access it and as a result way too many kids are seeing it way too early in life because their dumbass parents give them a smartphone or a tablet and call it a day.
 
Indians will fucking riot if they can't get their daily infusion of bobs and vagane.
 
I mean I don't know if this is the answer but at least this is actually being talked about. Call me a boomer moralfag or whatever. I'm not saying ban porn, I'm saying it's way too fucking easy to access it and as a result way too many kids are seeing it way too early in life because their dumbass parents give them a smartphone or a tablet and call it a day.
Then the solution is better fucking parenting. Not increasing the powers of the state.

Make no mistake, these bills are rarely about regulating porn. The issue is not the issue. If they can introduce age verification and needing government issued ID to access porn, then they can introduce that for anything. The ultimate goal is to destroy your anonymity online.
 
Republican Utah Sen. Mike Lee and Republican Illinois Rep. Mary Miller’s Interstate Obscenity Definition Act would create a national definition of obscenity under the Communications Act of 1934 and amend the Supreme Court’s 1973 “Miller Test” for determining what qualifies as obscene, according to background on the bill exclusively obtained by the Daily Caller News Foundation.

Neat. So this tells me one of two things will happen:

A) The definition of what constitutes "Obscene" will be broadened to soothe every pearl clutching retard out there who's running the "Won't you think of the children!" tape out as far as it will go. Ending up with shit like "anything more than 6 inches above the knees or anything below the top of the belly button is considered obscene"

or

B ) We're going to pay some fuckhead NGO with ties to one of the senators and some questionable religious org millions upon millions of dollars to define what "obscenity" is for us using charts, graphs, circles and arrows. We'll be left with a subjective fraction of an inch separating a "Felony Sex Offense" from "Art" that will fuel litigation for years.

... and all the while, kids will be sharing hard core porn openly on small apps no one has heard of yet because we can't control shit with legislation. We can't control guns. We can't control drugs, we can't control murderers, we can't control politicians. And we think we're going to control porn THIS time. Fuckin... parent your goddamn kids, you faggots.
 
Make no mistake, these bills are rarely about regulating porn. The issue is not the issue. If they can introduce age verification and needing government issued ID to access porn, then they can introduce that for anything. The ultimate goal is to destroy your anonymity online.
Exactly, porn doesn't just appear on purpose-built porn sites, it can appear on any site that allows users to post content, such as this one and every other forum online. Such legislation may mandate that online platforms have some kind of "response team" to answer complaints of pornographic content. Facebook and Reddit can hire a thousand pajeets to handle this while small websites, also regulated as "platforms," could not. Online communities will become a billionaires only game.
 
We're going to pay some fuckhead NGO with ties to one of the senators and some questionable religious org millions upon millions of dollars to define what "obscenity" is for us using charts, graphs, circles and arrows
Which is what a lot of government policy is in aid of. Finding ways to steal your money and put it in their pockets and the pockets of their criminal friends
Online communities will become a billionaires only game.
Which is another one of their goals. They'd love it if the internet became limited to six websites
 
Those were both spearheaded by Democrats. Well, the latter by the wife of a senator and eventual VP. Tipper Gore.
Both were feminist crusades that the "religious right" got roped into (because it too was run by women). The anti-porn stuff too. Newfags don't remember.

I only support censorship motivated by pure antisemitism.
 
I'll be the unpopular and uncool person in the room and say that online porn ruins people on such a scale that our culture is messed up because of it. Lots of us talk about our culture and how it needs to be saved ... Sorry not sorry.

That said, I understand that this is unpopular legislation. Let's focus on stuff like the economy, immigration, crime, and getting ourselves out of endless wars first, eh GOP?

If our government actually did its job well and not continuously make our quality of life worse and worse, then I bet that porn consumption wouldn't be such a crutch for people. Just saying.
 
I'll be the unpopular and uncool person in the room and say that online porn ruins people on such a scale that our culture is messed up because of it. Lots of us talk about our culture and how it needs to be saved ... Sorry not sorry.
Of course porn has ruined our culture. The technology has enabled that. You can't change the technology of a society and expect the culture to remain the same.
 
I'll be the unpopular and uncool person in the room and say that online porn ruins people on such a scale that our culture is messed up because of it. Lots of us talk about our culture and how it needs to be saved ... Sorry not sorry.

That said, I understand that this is unpopular legislation. Let's focus on stuff like the economy, immigration, crime, and getting ourselves out of endless wars first, eh GOP?

If our government actually did its job well and not continuously make our quality of life worse and worse, then I bet that porn consumption wouldn't be such a crutch for people. Just saying.
I believe we can correct the issues with porn proliferation without relying on Daddy Government.
 
I'll be the unpopular and uncool person in the room and say that online porn ruins people on such a scale that our culture is messed up because of it. Lots of us talk about our culture and how it needs to be saved ... Sorry not sorry.

That said, I understand that this is unpopular legislation. Let's focus on stuff like the economy, immigration, crime, and getting ourselves out of endless wars first, eh GOP?

If our government actually did its job well and not continuously make our quality of life worse and worse, then I bet that porn consumption wouldn't be such a crutch for people. Just saying.
Do we do the same with social media?
 
I dunno how many people actually disagree that the early proliferation of porn via tech has ruined a significant portion of a few generations, but if reducing proliferation to children is the goal, it seems like finding a solution that targets the devices, the overwhelming path for easy proliferation, is the play even assuming that the government is part of that potential solution.
 
This is a tough one. Frankly I dislike at least filmed porn for its exploitative nature and how (especially extreme fetishistic porn) it can really pervert the mind. Young and vulnerable people are especially victimized by it, both by creating it and also consuming it to the point of self-harm and troonery. But I also hate the idea of the internet becoming highly monitored and people being legally attacked over stuff that really isn't their fault, which I have no doubt this could lead to.

I am interested to see what other thoughts this thread produces. Perhaps some sort of cultural correction and returning shame to porn viewing is the correct answer? While we knew back 30 years ago men would view porn it was viewed still as cringe and something to hide. Now people flaunt it all over social media.
 
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