If legislation passed last month becomes law, Ohio could become the second state to protect kids from offensive content online.  ,
Republican state representative Josh Williams told The Federalist,” We’re merely trying to protect children in the state of Ohio from the occurrence of vulgar materials in our society.” The goal is to ensure that kids have a message in the room when it comes to what their children are exposed to every day.
The Innocence Act, or House Bill 84, would require websites to evaluate people are 18 or older before releasing “material that is vulgar or dangerous to juveniles.” Additionally, the law would “prohibit a people from using another woman’s likeness to create physical images of the other person.” The act, which is cosponsored by 25 Republicans and three Democrats, was introduced last month by Williams and Democratic state representative Steve Demetriou.
However, the act has discovered a formidable adversary. The” industry association for the child business,” which is made up of video professionals, the so-called Free Speech Coalition, has taken aim at this measure. A site tracking the bill’s opposition is located at the FSC Action Center.
Demetriou put forth a bill by the same title, which Williams cosponsored, in 2023, which finally failed, per NBC 4, despite the fact that it was sponsored by Williams. Williams told The Federalist that the FSC was also against this endeavor.  ,
They arrived next time and gave testimony, Williams said. ” I believe it was a notice that was circulated.”
The novel act is also moving forward. The Committee on Technology and Innovation, which next held a reading on March 18, now contains it. The bill’s donors gave testimony alongside a number of supporters.
The punishment is a first-degree criminal for marketers who don’t agree. Notably, Demetriou testified that minors who attempt to access such articles won’t be penalized. The bill also addresses the growing issue of “deepfake pornography,” or “nonconsensual fabricated physical images,” says the costs.
The bill, according to Kirsti Mouncey, president of the Collaborative to Stop Animal Trafficking, is” a crucial step toward modernizing our constitutional protections, holding perpetrators guilty, and protecting Ohioans from online exploitation that may lead to trafficking.”
Mouncey shared the tale of a survivor of human trafficking who was only identified as” Taylor.”
” My exploitation was made freely accessible to the general public, for free to download, and without any meaningful or useful restrictions.” Despite being ten years old, there are still numerous videos of me being uploaded to more than 100 explicit websites, Taylor said in a statement released by Mouncey. One step forward in protecting the most vulnerable is age verification of explicit content. The plight of countless survivors and the finding in 25 lawsuits have revealed the truth behind platforms like Pornhub and its parent company Mindgeek/Aylo.
PornHub has admitted to making money off of sex trafficking. Additionally, according to The Federalist, parent company Aylo provided funding for a group opposed to the” Kids Online Safety Act,” which would have required online platforms to protect minors from” sexual exploitation and abuse.” With the FSC, the organization that targeted the Ohio bill, Alphonso and them “relationships” developed.
Taylor expressed concern that children could access “unlimited other criminal abuse videos and child sexual abuse material” on porn sites via Mouncey. She also demanded that those portrayed in videos be verified for their age.
According to Williams, “it’s not unlawful to be online unless you can prove that it’s actually a minor, it’s not a minor,” the porn industry has won court cases. The Supreme Court upheld restrictions on content that” seems to be” or” contains the impression” of child porn in Ashcroft v. Free Speech Coalition.
We’ve been battling this for a while, Williams said.  ,
In 2022, Louisiana passed legislation to protect children from offensive online content, mandating porn sites to check that users are 18 and up. Along with others that followed suit, the FSC opposed the law. According to The Daily Citizen ( of Focus On The Family ), 16 more states are considering enacting age verification laws to protect children, and 20 more have already passed them.  ,
The staff writer for election integrity is Logan Washburn. He is a The College Fix spring 2025 fellow. He received his journalism from Hillsdale College, worked as Christopher Rufo’s editorial assistant, and has appeared in publications like The Wall Street Journal, The Tennessean, and The Daily Caller. Logan grew up in rural Michigan but is originally from Central Oregon.
