Essay
Omar Palacios Sanchez
Ms. Lanik and Ms. Haug
Voices 258
November 17th, 2025
Bill HF1434
All legislators should vote yes on Bill HF1434 to implement an age verification for websites with harmful materials. It's necessary to protect children who are under 18 from watching inappropriate content from being shown online. If the law is violated, They are subject to a penalty of not more than $25,000 per violation
This bill is in need because kids should not be exposed to harmful content with no knowledge that the sites are meant for adults for people who are over 18 years of age. Sites that contain harmful content shall have a government issued identification to be able to view these sites which children shouldn't enter in any way. These harmful websites need to add an age verification in order to enter the sites by using a government id rather than doing age gating to prevent minors from entering harmful sites.
There are certain age verifications that can help solve this issue from having minors enter these websites. Websites should implement an age verification using a government id showing their actual date of birth to confirm there are over 18 years of age to enter the sites that contain those types of content. Another way it can be resolved is by using a biometric age estimation to determine the age of the by taking a photo of their face.
It's extremely important to protect minors from accessing harmful content that isn't meant for them and these age verifications need to be implemented. This should also prohibit these sites from retaining any data from using other age verifications. In conclusion, This bill should be voted yes because it's time to realize how these sites can harm minors who are underage who didn't provide an accurate date of birth and bypass and view those sites.
Work cited
1. Pierce, Rebekah, The list of 65+ inappropriate websites to Block for kids, 16, April, 2025, https://findmykids.org/blog/en/list-of-websites-to-block
2. Stanley, Tim, Online Safety for Children & Common Legal Issues, 11, December, 2024, https://www.justia.com/child-safety/online-safety/#:~:text=Sexual%20Exploitation%20Online,a%20civil%20lawsuit%20for%20damages.
3. Sexton, Tom, HF1434 Bill Summary 20, March, 2025, https://fastdemocracy.com/bill-search/mn/2025-2026/bills/MNB00058951/
4. Schultz, Isaac, Office of the revisor of statues: HF1434, 17, March, 2025, https://www.revisor.mn.gov/bills/94/2025/0/HF/1434/?body=house