Speaker of the Polish Sejm Advances "Stop the Pornography Drug" Bill to First Reading

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• On January 20, Sejm Speaker Szymon Hołownia announced that the citizens' bill aimed at protecting minors from online pornography would proceed to its first reading in the Sejm, the lower house of Poland's parliament.

• The bill seeks to implement robust age verification mechanisms for users of pornographic websites to restrict children's access to such content.

• Over 212,000 citizens' signatures supporting the initiative were submitted to the Sejm on December 20, surpassing the legal threshold of 100,000 signatures required for submission.

• According to Polish law, the first reading must take place within three months of the signatures' submission.

The citizen’s bill on the protection of minors from access to pornography on the Internet was spearheaded by the Ordo Iuris Institute and the Center for Life and Family, with support from numerous social organizations, including the Coalition for Life and Family, the Mom and Dad Foundation, All-Polish Youth, the March for Independence Association, and Catholic Action. The collection of the 100,000 signatures required to submit the bill to the Sejm lasted three months, as stipulated by Polish law. Ultimately, the bill received support from over 212,000 people.

 Key Objectives of the Bill:

• Introduce effective age verification measures on pornographic websites, similar to the measures that are going to be implemented this year in the UK, France, and Italy, and which are already in force in nearly 20 U.S. states.
• Require website owners to adopt these mechanisms or face significant consequences, including:
  • Inclusion on a central registry of non-compliant platforms.
  • Blocking of their websites by Polish Internet providers.
  • Disruption of payment services within Poland, such as blocking transactions using Polish-issued bank cards.

The Polish authority for electronic communications (UKE) will oversee the evaluation of these verification systems to ensure compliance and effectiveness.

For more information about the initiative, see our news published on August 22, when we announce this initiative: “A citizens’ initiative to protect children from pornography in Poland.”