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When she was 14, Serena K. Fleites was an A student “who had never made out with a boy,” wrote New York Times columnist Nicholas Kristof. Kristof details how a boy Serena had a crush on coaxed her into sending him multiple naked videos of herself, and after someone posted them on Pornhub, classmates mocked her until her “world imploded.” The Times piece describes how Serena tried to overdose and to hang herself, and ultimately, her feelings of worthlessness led her to punish herself by posting even more naked videos of herself on Pornhub. Kristof relates how the Pornhub exposure caused a downward spiral that ended with the former A student living in her car and lamenting that “A whole life can be changed because of one little mistake.” 

Serena’s story is only one of thousands of stories of vulnerable children who are victimized by the online porn empire. Sadly, Wisconsin is no exception. 

Wisconsin Attorney General Josh Kaul described the growing problem in a press release last fall, stating that in 2024, the Wisconsin Internet Crimes Against Children (ICAC) Task Force received approximately 11,000 total tips of online child exploitation, up from 7,000 total tips in 2022. Attorney General Kaul’s press release says online threats to kids “can include cyber bullying, exposure to Child Sexual Abuse Material (CSAM), contact from adults looking to obtain CSAM from the child and possessing or distributing CSAM images or videos.” 

Wisconsin policymakers have a chance to address this crisis. Passed with bipartisan support, Assembly Bill 105 requires commercial pornographic websites to verify that users are at least age 18 before accessing content that is obscene for children. The bill also forbids publishing or distributing obscene depictions of children online. 

Wisconsin legislators understand that Big Porn can only be reined in by hitting these corporate child exploiters where it will hurt most — their wallets. Thus, Assembly Bill 105 creates civil liability for websites that do not implement commonsense safeguards to protect children from harm.

Assembly Bill 105 also contains important privacy protections. Once a website operator has confirmed a user’s age, it cannot retain the individual’s other identifying information.

The bill is also clearly consistent with freedom of speech. The United States Supreme Court has long held that child pornography is not constitutionally protected speech. Just last July, in FSC v. Paxton, the Supreme Court also upheld the constitutionality of age verification laws like AB 105. Thanks to that ruling, states may require websites to perform age verification to prevent children from being exposed to online material that is obscene for kids. 

The porn websites profiting from kids’ suffering try to hide behind false claims about threats to the First Amendment. No one should be taken in by these debunked free speech claims, which have been firmly rejected by the Supreme Court. 

Assembly Bill 105 passed the Wisconsin Assembly in a strong bipartisan vote, 69-22, and passed the Wisconsin Senate on a voice vote. This reasonable legislation now heads to the desk of Governor Tony Evers. 

Earlier this month, Gov. Evers remarked in a press statement that keeping kids safe “must be a top priority for us, whether it’s addressing grooming, gun violence, bullying, or other harmful behavior.” Gov. Evers has consistently promised a commitment to kids, relating in February, “I’ve devoted most of my life to doing what’s best for our kids.” 

Signing the bipartisan Assembly Bill 105 would go a long way towards securing Gov. Evers’ pro-child legacy.

It’s time to do what must be done to protect Wisconsin’s kids from online sexual exploitation. All Wisconsinites should urge Governor Evers to sign Assembly Bill 105 into law without delay.Trey Dellinger is a senior legal fellow with AFA Action and chief of staff for former Mississippi Speaker Philip A. Gunn.