SCREEN Act
Analysis under review: This bill has generated analysis that may be too generic or incomplete. Clause-level evidence remains available below.
Summary
What This Bill Does
The bill defines congressional findings documenting the failure of filtering software to protect minors from online pornography, citing statistics on minor exposure rates and psychological harms, and expressing sense of Congress, defines definitions for the SCREEN Act including covered platform (interactive computer services hosting harmful content for profit), harmful to minors (three-prong test or obscenity/child pornography), technology, and requires core mandate requiring covered platforms to adopt technology verification measures within 1 year to verify users are not minors and prevent minor access to harmful content. It relies on compliance mandates, reporting requirements, definition changes, and product standards. The main policy areas are Technology, Social Welfare, Trade, and Civil Rights.
Who Benefits and How
Age verification technology companies could gain revenue opportunities, Minors could face reduced risk, and Age verification technology providers could gain revenue opportunities.
Who Bears the Burden and How
Adult content platforms would take on compliance duties, Non-compliant adult content platforms could face higher costs, and Adult content websites and platforms would take on compliance duties.
Key Provisions
- Defines congressional findings documenting the failure of filtering software to protect minors from online pornography, citing statistics on minor exposure rates and psychological harms, and expressing sense of Congress...
- Defines definitions for the SCREEN Act including covered platform (interactive computer services hosting harmful content for profit), harmful to minors (three-prong test or obscenity/child pornography), technology...
- Requires core mandate requiring covered platforms to adopt technology verification measures within 1 year to verify users are not minors and prevent minor access to harmful content.
- Requires FTC consultation requirements specifying that enforcement must include input from experts in computer science, child safety, consumer protection, privacy, age verification technology, and data security.
- Requires FTC requirements to conduct regular audits, issue compliance guidance within 180 days, establish document submission processes, with limitations preventing enforcement actions based solely on inconsistency...
Evidence Chain:
This summary is generated from the full bill text using AI analysis. Expand "Detailed Analysis" below for identified beneficiaries/burden bearers with clause-level evidence links.
At a Glance
What This Bill Does
The bill defines congressional findings documenting the failure of filtering software to protect minors from online pornography, citing statistics on minor exposure rates and psychological harms, and expressing sense of Congress, defines definitions for the SCREEN Act including covered platform (interactive computer services hosting harmful content for profit), harmful to minors (three-prong test or obscenity/child pornography), technology, and requires core mandate requiring covered platforms to adopt technology verification measures within 1 year to verify users are not minors and prevent minor access to harmful content.
Key Policy Areas
Technology, Social Welfare, Trade, Civil Rights
Primary Purpose
The bill defines congressional findings documenting the failure of filtering software to protect minors from online pornography, citing statistics on minor exposure rates and psychological harms, and expressing sense of Congress, defines definitions for the SCREEN Act including covered platform (interactive computer services hosting harmful content for profit), harmful to minors (three-prong test or obscenity/child pornography), technology, and requires core mandate requiring covered platforms to adopt technology verification measures within 1 year to verify users are not minors and prevent minor access to harmful content.
Policy Domains
Short Title and Findings (Sections 1-2)
Identified Gains
- Age verification technology companies
- Minors
- Age verification technology providers
- Minors exposed to online pornography
- Third-party audit firms
Identified Costs
- Adult content platforms
- Non-compliant adult content platforms
- Adult content websites and platforms
- Covered platforms (adult content sites)
- Adult content consumers
Sponsors
Legislative Progress
In CommitteeMr. Lee (for himself, Mr. Curtis, and Mr. Banks) introduced …
Read twice and referred to the Committee on Commerce, Science, …
Introduced in Senate
Stakeholder Effects
cui bono?How this legislation distributes effects. Mention counts reflect frequency, not effect magnitude.
Adult content platforms, Adult content websites and platforms, Age verification technology companies
Positive-direction: Age verification technology companies, Age verification technology providers
Negative-direction: Adult content platforms, Adult content websites and platforms, Covered platforms (adult content sites), Non-compliant adult content platforms
Adult content consumers, Internet users accessing adult content
Minors, Minors exposed to online pornography
Bill Structure & Actor Mappings
Who is "The Secretary" in each section?
- "the_commission"
- → Federal Trade Commission
- "the_commission"
- → Federal Trade Commission
- "the_commission"
- → Federal Trade Commission
- "the_commission"
- → Federal Trade Commission
- "comptroller_general"
- → Comptroller General
Key Definitions
Terms defined in this bill
We use a combination of our own taxonomy and classification in addition to large language models to assess meaning and potential beneficiaries. High confidence means strong textual evidence. Always verify with the original bill text.
Learn more about our methodology