The Age Verification Bill (SCREEN, HR 1623) And What To Do About It
Today is: December 15th, 2025
Resources: Bill PDF, Verge Article, Committee Hearing (long), GovTrack SCREEN, Roll Call article about the bills advancing
This bill was introduced on Feb 26th, 2025, but was discussed by the House Energy and Commerce subcommittee on Commerce, Manufacturing and Trade on December 2nd, 2025 and advanced to the full House Energy and Commerce Committee on a party line vote.
This bill is intended to pass with other "internet safety" bills like KOSA. They work with one another to create the possibility for a privacy and civil rights nightmare. The sponsors of this legislation are relying on the density of the text and the overwhelming number of bills to distract and demoralize people. Stay focused, don't get discouraged.
This bill would
Require all "covered platforms" (defined Section 3, Paragraph 3) meaning any platform that operates in the United States and "for which it is in the regular course of the trade or business of the entity to create, host, or make available content that meets the definition of harmful to minors under paragraph (4) and that is provided by the entity, a user, or other information content provider, with the objective of earning a profit" to "adopt and utilize technology verification measures" to prevent minors from accessing the platform (Section 4)
Paragraph 4 defines "harmful to minors" as: A depiction of anything sexual or pornographic. (Section 3, Paragraph 4)
Functionally, this would require all platforms where someone sells adult content to utilize age verification measures for all users. This has the potential to be interpreted extremely broadly to include platforms where that is not the primary function, but does occur (i.e. Patreon, Ko-Fi, Twitter/X). The definition of sexual content could also be stretched to include any depiction of Queer experience.
Here's what you can do
You can find your Congressional Representatives here. Focus on your federal House representatives at present, since that's where the bill has been introduced.
Resources for contacting your representatives about this bill: 5 calls, Resistbot
The bill's sponsor is Representative Mary Miller (R) of Illinois' 15th district. If you live in her district, please make sure you contact her about your opposition to this bill.
The co-sponsors are: Jefferson Van Drew (R) NJ-2, Josh Brecheen (R) OK-2, Doug Lamalfa (R) CA-1, Austin Scott (R) GA-8, Mike Kennedy (R) UT-3, Elijah Crane (R) AZ-2, Robert Aderholt (R) AL-4, Brian Babin (R) TX-36, John Rose (R) TN-6, Andrew Ogles (R) TN-5, Keith Self (R) of TX-3, Andy Harris (R) of MD-1, Diana Harshbarger (R) TN-1, Mark Harris (R) NC-8, Randy Weber (R) TX-14, James Baird (R) IN-4, Ralph Norman (R) SC-5, Barry Moore (R) AL-1, Sheri Biggs (R) of SC-3, Gregory Steube (R) FL-17, Burgess Owens (R) UT-4, Carol Miller (R) WV-1, Stephanie Bice (R) OK-5, Blake Moore (R) UT-1, Pat Harrigan (R) NC-10. If you live in any of those districts, please be sure to contact your representative to oppose this bill. [US State Abbreviations List]
It's important to remember that SCREEN is part of a suite of bills. In order to prevent the government from enacting internet restrictions, the bills must be opposed as a group.
My advice is to choose one bill to focus on and center your activism around that. Call, email, fax, or write your Representative repeatedly about that specific issue. It is likely the tactic these bills' sponsors are trying to use is to sneak by some of the worst things in the less prominent bills. Don't divide your attention to such an extent that you burn out; keep your focus narrow and consistent. If lots of people choose different things to focus on, we can collectively defeat these pieces of legislation.
OTHER BILLS IN THIS SET: KOSA, ASAA. RESET (list will be updated as the week continues)
▷ You can check the bias and credibility of the news sources in this post here, if you want.
