Michigan HB 4938 (ISP Filtering and VPN Ban)
What it does
The Anticorruption of Public Morals Act criminalizes broad categories of online sexual content and puts the enforcement duty on internet service providers. ISPs would have to run content filters and detect and block circumvention tools, which the bill spells out: VPNs, proxy servers, encrypted tunnels. The obligation is not limited to people trying to reach banned material. Using a VPN at all would be treated as an attempt to bypass the state filter. Introduced September 11, 2025; it sits in House Judiciary with no hearing scheduled.
Why it matters
The other bills on this tracker target websites or app stores. This one drafts your ISP as the censor and makes the private connection itself the offense. It has no path through Michigan's Senate this session, and it does not need one to matter: this is the endpoint the other laws are walking toward, written down early.
Our take
Most age-verification laws pretend VPNs do not exist. Michigan's bill is more honest: for the checkpoint to work, the tools that protect your privacy have to be banned. It will not pass in 2026. The idea is now on paper, and ideas on paper get reintroduced.
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