A Republican Senator from Salt Lake City, Utah is on a mission to allow people to sue companies which publish porn on the internet.
Todd Weiler believes porn is a “a public health hazard,” and in 2016 sponsored a resolution declaring it “epidemic” calling on the industry to keep "evil, degrading, addictive" materials away from children.
Now, he plans to send “a message to the pornography industry” and is drafting legislation to pave the way for people to sue porn companies for damages.
"Right now porn is available without any warnings and labeling, without any protections online," Weiler said. "This would just open the valve for a cause of action. Let these attorneys go after these cases."
"I'm trying to kind of track the same path that was taken against tobacco 70 years ago," Weiler, who is also an attorney, explained. "It's not government coming in and saying what you can and can't watch. It's just basically a message to the pornography industry that if someone in Utah can prove damages from the product, that they may be held liable financially."
Weiler’s concern lies in the reported exposure of children as young as 11 to hardcore porn. While he thinks it’s likely the first 30 cases brought against porn companies would not be successful, the hope is that suits would eventually gain traction.
"I'm looking at where we can push the envelope as a state of Utah," Weiler said. "To pretend that this is not having any impact on our youth, on children's' minds as they're developing, as their attitudes towards sex and the opposite sex are being formed, I think is foolish."
Weiler is also working on a bill which will make it mandatory for public libraries to install porn filters on their Wi-Fi connections, thus prohibiting library users from accessing x-rated content while using the public internet connection.