South Carolina Porn Ban: State Proposes Requiring Porn Filter, Charging Fee To Remove It

A new bill in South Carolina would require all computers, tablets and smartphones sold in the state to come with a porn filter installed and demand device owners to pay a $20 fee to remove the content blocker.

The bill comes from Republican state Representatives Bill Chumley and Mike Burns who would like to require manufacturers or sellers to ensure all devices have a digital content filter installed or face a fine.

Both device makers and sellers who don’t want to bother with installing a filter would be able to waive the requirement for a $20 fee for each device. Likewise, the purchasers of these devices equipped with a filter could pay $20 to have the content block lifted—but only after proving they are at least 18 years old.

Presented by the legislators with the somewhat dubious title the “Human Trafficking Prevention Act,” the bill would direct the money collected from the fines to state Attorney General’s office to be used to fund its human trafficking task force.

The bill would benefit law enforcement, nonprofit organizations and state advocates who are working to find ways to stop human trafficking. The bill would also ban access to any site that may facilitate trafficking or prostitution.

The cause is a noble one, and South Carolina truly does have a problem with human trafficking. The National Human Trafficking Hotline reported the state had 1,330 calls to the hotline and 308 actual human trafficking cases since 2007, according to a report from GoUpstate.

South Carolina’s trafficking problem stems from its location on Interstate 85. The upstate part of South Carolina sits between Atlanta and Charlotte, two cities that regularly rank at the top for human sex trafficking in the U.S.

“If we could have manufacturers install filters that would be shipped to South Carolina, then anything that children have access on for pornography would be blocked,” Chumley told GoUpstate. “We felt like that would be another way to fight human trafficking.”

South Carolina ranks near the bottom of porn consumption according to a 2014 report from Pornhub.