Alabama SB 186 (Device Filter, Age Asked at Setup)
Alabama, United StatesHigh threat- Introduced
- Passed Senate
- Passed House
- Became Law
Stage 4 of 4: Became Law
Alabama requires new phones and tablets to ask the user's age at activation and to switch on an obscenity filter automatically when the stated age is under 18.
Latest update
Took effect
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Take action on this issueWhat it does
Smartphones and tablets made on or after June 1, 2025 and activated in Alabama must contain a filter that blocks obscene material in the maker's own browsers and search engines. At activation and account setup the device must ask the user's age, and it must turn the filter on when that self-declared age is under 18; the act requires no verification or estimation of the answer, and only an adult with the filter password can switch the filter off. The attorney general can seek up to $5,000 per violation, capped at $50,000, and a manufacturer faces civil liability if a minor reaches obscene material on a device that did not enable a compliant filter. Retailers and game consoles are excluded, and the law has been in force since October 1, 2025.
What’s at stake
Alabama made the phone itself ask who is using it and sort that person by age before the first app opens. That age question at activation is the same plumbing that app store and device signal laws build on, and Alabama's own HB 161 already goes further by requiring verified ages for app store accounts from 2027. The filter also puts a state-mandated blocklist in front of the manufacturer's browser on any device whose user says they are a minor.
Our take
Alabama built an age question into phone activation five months before California passed AB 1043, and the answer is whatever the user types. Once the question is part of setup, a later law only has to demand proof of the answer. Alabama has already taken that step for app store accounts with HB 161.
Timeline
Took effectLatest
Signed into law as Act 2025-406
Senate concurred in the House amendment 30-0
House passed it as amended 103-0
Senate passed it 28-5
Introduced in the Senate
Sponsor
Sen. Clyde Chambliss
Votes
- Senate — Passed (28 to 5) · April 17, 2025
- House — Passed as amended (103 to 0) · April 29, 2025
- Senate — Concurred (30 to 0) · May 1, 2025
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