Alabama Device Porn Filtering Bill Advances to Senate Floor

MONTGOMERY, Ala.—Lawmakers in the Alabama House of Representatives will begin debating Senate Bill (SB) 186 on second reading after it advanced out of the House Commerce and Small Business Committee on Wednesday. SB 186 was first introduced by conservative Sen. Clyde Chambliss of Prattville, Ala., north of Montgomery, with a mobile app store age verification bill. If passed, SB 186 would mandate manufacturers of mobile devices, including phones and tablets, to sell devices with parental filters or any other anti-porn content filters activated at the point of sale. This aims to prevent minors from accessing age-restricted materials, say proponents of the bill. A password must be given to a legal parent, guardian or adult to deactivate the pre-enabled parental filters and turn off the content filter, as AVN reported in March. Violators of SB 186 could be sued for civil penalties, according to the bill text. If adopted and signed into law by Gov. Kay Ivey, SB 186 enters force on October 1, 2025.