SCREEN Act
Analysis under review: This bill has generated analysis that may be too generic or incomplete. Clause-level evidence remains available below.
Summary
The SCREEN Act (Shielding Childrens Retinas from Egregious Exposure on the Net) requires websites that host pornographic content to implement age verification technology to prevent minors from accessing it. The law applies to any interactive computer service that regularly creates, hosts, or makes available content harmful to minors for profit. Covered platforms must adopt technology verification measures within one year, verify users are not minors through actual verification (not just self-certification), and subject all U.S.-based users to age checks. Platforms must also implement data security measures and cannot retain verification data longer than necessary. The FTC is given enforcement authority, treating violations as unfair or deceptive practices. The bill requires the FTC to issue compliance guidance within 180 days, conduct regular audits, and consult with experts in child safety, privacy, and technology. A GAO report is due within 2 years evaluating effectiveness.
Evidence Chain:
This summary is generated from the full bill text using AI analysis. Expand "Detailed Analysis" below for identified beneficiaries/burden bearers.
At a Glance
What This Bill Does
Requires interactive computer services that host pornographic content to implement technology verification measures (age verification) to prevent minors from accessing harmful material online.
Who Benefits
- Minors (protected from harmful content)
- Age verification technology companies
- Child safety advocacy organizations
Who Bears Costs
- Adult content platforms (compliance costs)
- Adult content consumers (friction from age verification)
- Privacy advocates (data collection concerns)
Key Policy Areas
{'domain': 'Technology', 'evidence': ['4', '7']}, {'domain': 'Consumer Protection', 'evidence': ['4', '6']}, {'domain': 'Child Protection', 'evidence': ['2', '4']}
Primary Purpose
Requires interactive computer services that host pornographic content to implement technology verification measures (age verification) to prevent minors from accessing harmful material online.
Policy Domains
Legislative Strategy
"Mandate age verification on pornographic websites through FTC enforcement authority, with platform choice of specific technology, while addressing previous Supreme Court concerns about least-restrictive means."
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