Sponsor
Mary E. Miller
Representative · R-IL
Representative · R-IL
The bill makes it easier for platforms and authorities to remove or restrict obscene and harassing visual communications to protect children and aid enforcement, but does so by adopting subjective obscenity standards and eliminating an intent requirement—increasing risks of censorship, narrowing speech protections, and raising compliance costs for platforms.
Children and parents gain clearer protection because platforms and parents have a statutory definition of visual obscenity that makes it easier to remove explicitly obscene images from services.
Individuals may see quicker removal or enforcement against harassing obscene communications because the law no longer requires proof of intent for certain prohibited communications.
Broadcasters and carriers get clearer statutory cross-references, reducing ambiguity when enforcing certain section 271 obligations.
Tech workers, artists, and students face greater risk of censorship because the new obscenity test uses subjective standards (e.g., prurient interest, lack of serious value) that can be broadly applied.
Internet users and platforms may lose protections because removing the intent requirement allows communications to be prosecuted or removed even without proof of intent to harass.
Small business owners and small online platforms could face higher compliance costs and legal risk as they avoid hosting content that might be judged obscene under the new statutory test.
Based on analysis of 2 sections of legislative text.
Adds a federal three-part definition of "obscene" for visual depictions in communications law and removes an intent-to-harass requirement from one prohibited-communications offense.
Official title: To define "obscenity" for purposes of the Communications Act of 1934, and for other purposes.
Introduced May 8, 2025 by Mary E. Miller · Last progress May 8, 2025
Adds a new federal statutory definition of “obscene; obscenity” for visual depictions into the Communications Act and removes an intent-to-harass/abuse/ threaten limitation from one criminal communications prohibition. The bill inserts a three-part test for visual obscenity (prurient interest, objective sexual depiction with intent to arouse, and lack of serious value) and updates cross-references in the U.S. Code. The change also deletes language that had limited one category of prohibited interstate or foreign communications to those made “with intent to abuse, threaten, or harass,” potentially broadening the scope of that criminal offense and affecting how providers, users, and law enforcement apply federal communications law to visual material and messages sent across state or international lines.