COLUMBIA, S.C.—Lawmakers in the South Carolina Senate are poised to adopt age verification legislation that specifically targets adult entertainment platforms. H. 3424 would levy age-gating requirements touted as "reasonable" on all platforms where one-third of the content they host is considered "harmful to minors."
According to the state legislature, H. 3424 is before the Senate Labor, Commerce, and Industry Committee. Proponents of the bill introduced it as a noncontroversial child protection measure. However, critics told the committee members that implementing legislation like this could result in federal litigation from technology and adult entertainment companies.
"I am not comfortable saying one thing or another as it relates to what you should expect," said committee staff attorney and assistant clerk Kenneth Moffett during an April 17 subcommittee hearing.
"But I do think there are vulnerabilities on First Amendment grounds. There may be vulnerabilities as it relates to federal law, even though this is dealing with, ultimately, obscenity," Moffett said, according to the local, Charleston-based newspaper The Post and Courier.
"There is a very real risk that you would pass this, you go to federal court, and lose," said Moffett to the subcommittee. The entire Senate Labor, Commerce, and Industry Committee is expected to vote on and advance H. 3424 on April 18. The likelihood of the Senate advancing the bill and sending it to the desk of Republican Gov. Henry McMaster is high. South Carolina's legislature is controlled by a Republican supermajority.
H. 3424 was first introduced by Republican state Rep. Travis Moore with bipartisan sponsors. On February 1, 2024, the bill advanced through the House of Representatives on final passage, 113-1.
The one lawmaker to vote against the bill was Democratic state Rep. Justin Bamberg, according to voting data from the state legislature.
During a floor debate on the bill preceding its passage, Bamberg said that parents, not the government, should regulate minors' access to certain websites.
“If my child wants to serve this country and choose to be willing to die at 17 for freedom, I can consent to them joining the armed forces,” Bamberg said, via coverage on the floor debate by Fox Carolina. “I can’t consent, under this, to letting you watch porn at home? I have a problem with that.”
AVN reached out to Bamberg for comment, but no response was returned by press time.
North Carolina adopted age verification requirements, leading Aylo, the parent company of Pornhub, to block local IP addresses.
