Michigan Proposes Bill to Ban Online Pornography and Restrict VPN Use
Republican lawmakers in the U.S. state of Michigan have introduced a bill that would ban online pornography and restrict the use of virtual private networks (VPNs). The proposal, entitled ‘The Anticorruption of Public Morals Act ’, was introduced in the state legislature earlier this month. The legislation aims to address concerns about the distribution of explicit material and the use of circumvention tools to bypass restrictions. According to the bill, any pornographic materials distributed on the internet, including those generated by artificial intelligence (AI), would be prohibited. Internet service providers (ISPs) would be required to actively monitor and block known circumvention tools, such as VPNs and proxy servers, to prevent users from accessing restricted content.
Currently, there are no federal or state restrictions on VPNS in the U.S., and no state has a comprehensive legal ban on adult pornography. Most states rely on measures such as age verification, obscenity laws, and filtering to restrict access to explicit material. This new legislation, however, would mark the first time a U.S. state has attempted to directly ban pornography at the state level. If the bill becomes law, violations could result in fines of up to $500,000 in some cases and/or up to 25 years in prison. The severity of the proposed penalties underscores the lawmakers’ concerns about the impact of pornography on public morality and the potential misuse of circumvention tools to evade these restrictions.
The bill also prohibits content where individuals represent themselves as being of the other biological sex. This provision has raised concerns about its implications for LGBTQ+ rights, as it reflects broader conservative efforts to limit access to LGBTQ+ content and discussions around gender identity. In recent years, several states have proposed or enacted laws that restrict or prohibit LGBTQ+ topics in schools, libraries, and public events. The introduction of this legislation aligns with these broader conservative trends and highlights the growing influence of conservative legislation on issues related to sexuality, gender, and privacy.
Michigan, a so-called swing state with a sizable conservative population and an equally strong liberal bloc, has a split legislature, with Democrats holding the Senate and Republicans controlling the House. The state recently saw a series of criminal and civil cases related to sexual abuse of minors and child pornography, which may have influenced the proposed legislation. While the bill has not yet passed, it has sparked debates about the balance between protecting public morality and safeguarding individual freedoms, particularly in the context of online privacy and free speech.