Beautiful Virgin Islands

Wednesday, Jul 08, 2026

GOP Sen. Mike Lee proposes bill that could ban access to Internet porn in the US

GOP Sen. Mike Lee proposes bill that could ban access to Internet porn in the US

Republican Sen. Mike Lee introduced a measure that some in the adult film industry believe could redefine obscenity and could upend the Internet porn industry. 
Lee, of Utah, introduced the one-page bill, titled the Interstate Obscenity Definition Act, on December 14. The bill would "establish a national definition of obscenity that would apply to obscene content" that's transmitted online. 

"Obscenity is not protected speech under the First Amendment and is prohibited from interstate or foreign transmission under U.S. law. But obscenity is difficult to define (let alone prosecute) under the current Supreme Court test for obscenity," the proposed act said. 

While it's currently legal to produce porn in the US, the Supreme Court has a set of standards to determine if materials are obscene, which is not legally protected. According to the three-pronged test, materials are considered obscene if they appeal to "prurient interests," depict "sexual conduct in a patently offensive way," and lack "serious literary, artistic, political, or scientific value."

Lee's bill would take the same test but scrap the second prong about depicting sex in a "patently offensive way." Instead, his bill says materials would be obscene if they depict "actual or simulated sexual acts with the objective intent to arouse, titillate, or gratify the sexual desires of a person." 

The bill was introduced to the Senate on December 14, according to Congressional records. It has yet to gain any co-sponsors.

A spokesperson for Lee did not immediately respond to Insider's request for comment on Saturday. 

Members of the Free Speech Coalition, a trade association that protects the rights of those in the adult film industry criticized Lee's bill in a Thursday tweet, saying it "would remove porn's First Amendment protections, and effectively prohibit distribution of adult material in the US."


Mike Stabile, public affairs director with the Free Speech Coalition, also told VICE News that the bill "has gotten a huge amount of attention." 

"Our members understand this for what it is: It's a threat to their business, to their livelihood. It's a threat to their community," Stabile said, per VICE.
Newsletter

Related Articles

Beautiful Virgin Islands
0:00
0:00
Close
Federal Financial Framework Shifts as Treasury Launches Universal Savings Program for Minors
French Court Allows Le Pen to Run for Presidency, but with an Electronic Tag: "I Will Appeal, and I Will Run"
$1.4 Trillion: The Lawsuit That Could Crush Meta
Europe's Growing Struggle with Extreme Heat and Air Conditioning
UK Daily Briefing: Legal Developments and Social Issues
Political Turmoil and Rising Costs
Anthropic Reengineers Agentic Architecture to Shift Autonomous Workplace Automation to the Cloud
Logic Flaw in Windows 11 Permission Architecture Silently Consumes Hundreds of Gigabytes of Local Storage
Apple Advances Late-Stage Operating Systems with Fourth Beta Deployments
Global Crisis Alert: Escalating Middle East Tensions and UK Political Upheaval
Deep Purple Has Released Its Best Album in Decades
Microsoft Lays Off 4,800 Employees and Xbox Suffers the Hardest Blow
Morocco and France Advance as 2026 FIFA World Cup Enters Quarterfinals.
Historic 2026 Tour de France Opens in Barcelona With Revamped Team Time Trial.
Global Mergers and Acquisitions Approach $4 Trillion Defying Geopolitical Tumult.
Negotiators Advance 20-Point Framework for Gaza Ceasefire and Demilitarization.
OECD Warns Middle East Conflict Will Depress Global Economic Growth.
Ukrainian Drones Strike Major Oil Terminal in St. Petersburg.
World Meteorological Organization Issues Urgent Alert Over Rapidly Intensifying El Niño.
United States Commemorates 250th Anniversary With Diplomatic Summits and Global Flotilla.
Iran Begins Days-Long Funeral for Supreme Leader Khamenei Amid Strait of Hormuz Standoff.
Technology giant reports surging carbon emissions driven by artificial intelligence infrastructure demands.
Artificial intelligence adoption accelerates workforce reductions across the technology and financial sectors.
Global technology and financial conglomerates collaborate to launch a new stablecoin standard.
United States regulators lift export restrictions on a major frontier artificial intelligence model.
Luxury bags take over the World Cup: style, status symbol, or just showing off?
×