Samir Jain

States around the country are considering requiring cellphone manufacturers to include filters on their phones, which would blur sexually explicit content automatically. The filter could be altered by a passcode. Utah passed similar legislation in 2021, but it has yet to go into force: five other states must agree similar policies before Utah's legislation goes into operation, to avoid one state from being singled out for retaliation by phone companies. The legislation was first introduced in 2019 by the National Center on Sexual Exploitation and Protect Young Eyes. Apple introduced an optional filter in 2021 that can be switched on to scan messages for nudity. Any suspected nude photos for people with the filters turned on would then be blurred. Politicians and activists have consulted with legislators and advocates in the intervening years to get the law passed, according to Benjamin Bull, the national center on Sexual Exploitation's general counsel.