Alaska Age Verification Porn and Online Safety Issues

Porn Sites Don’t Care if Alaska’s Kids Are Watching

Opinion piece in response to the 2024 HOUSE BILL NO. 254 by Representative Vance, entitled: “An Act relating to liability for publishing or distributing pornography to minors on the Internet.” This bill stalled in the Senate Judiciary Committee and did not become law.

If Alaska Won’t Protect Kids Online, Who Will?

In Alaska, you need an ID to buy beer. You need an ID to buy cigarettes. You even need an ID to step foot inside an adult store. But online? Any child can open a phone, type a few words, and watch pornography, no qualified age verification.

That might seem like “someone else’s problem,” but not here. Alaska already leads the nation in child abuse, neglect, and domestic violence. Reports of teen dating violence, rape, and trafficking are climbing. Add unlimited access to porn into the mix, and we’re pouring gasoline on a fire still out of control.

Last year, House Bill 254 would have required porn sites to use digital ID checks. It passed the House but stalled in the Senate Judiciary Committee, thanks in part to fearmongering by the likes of Rep. David Eastman, R-Wasilla, about “becoming like China.” Rep. Eastman is the same person who stated “the state could financially benefit if child abuse victims died of their abuse.” Meanwhile, 23 other states have already passed laws requiring age verification. They didn’t collapse into tyranny. They protected their kids.

We can keep building shelters and funding counseling, and we should, but why do we ignore the fuel source? Porn isn’t just adult entertainment. For children and teens, it can be a gateway to exploitation, learned violence, and lifelong harm.

I believe our most valuable resource isn’t oil or fisheries, it’s young Alaskans. And right now, they’re growing up in a state where violence, exploitation, and neglect are far too common. We have incredible local organizations working every day to push back against this reality and a shared vision for safer communities. But they can’t do it alone. Every Alaskan has a role to play, whether that’s backing stronger laws, supporting frontline groups, or simply refusing to stay silent. If we truly believe in a safer future for our children, we have to show it with action. Courage means raising our voices when it’s easier to look away. Advocacy means demanding change, even when the fight is uncomfortable. We owe it to ourselves and to the next generation to prove that Alaska can be better than the headlines that haunt us.

The truth is uncomfortable: when Alaska refuses to act, we are complicit. We normalize harm. We protect profit over children.

This isn’t about censorship. It’s about the bare minimum of responsibility, verifying that the person clicking “play” is actually old enough to be there.

So the question is, will Alaskans demand it? Or will we politicize the issue while our kids pay the price?

Scott Slone
Founder of Mighty AK