New House Speaker Mike Johnson has used the same "accountability software" as convicted sex offender, Josh Duggar.
Covenant Eyes is also used by the new House speaker and costs about $17 monthly.
It claims to help users who are "unwilling to speak candidly about the temptations...are more likely to lower their standard of purity," according to a blog on the Covenant Eyes website. "Sin only gains more power when shrouded in darkness and hidden in corners."
Johnson, a Republican who was first elected to Congress in 2016, revealed in 2022 that his whole family used the program and his accountability partner was his teenage son, Jack. Newsweek reached out to Johnson for comment.
Researcher Monica Campo in 2016 studied the effects of porn on adolescents and found, among other things, that "pornography consumption by young people may also normalise sexual violence and contribute to unrealistic understandings of sex and sexuality. These understandings shape social norms around sex, and may lead to young people feeling as though they should engage in the sexual behaviour frequently displayed in pornography, including violent acts.
"Pornography consumption has also been associated with the practice of 'sexting', and young women have reported being coerced or feeling pressured to share naked images of themselves online."
"It scans all the activity on your phone, or your devices, your laptop, what have you," Johnson said of the service.
"We do all of it. And then it sends a report to your accountability partner. So my accountability partner right now is Jack, my son... He's 17. So he and I get a report of all the things that are on our phones, all of our devices, once a week. If anything objectionable comes up, your accountability partner gets an immediate notice. I'm proud to tell ya, my son has got a clean slate," Johnson said during a panel called "War on Technology" at Cypress Baptist Church in Benton, Louisiana.
Upon realizing the Speaker used the software, social media users became concerned his data could become compromised.
"This opens up the Speaker to a real security risk. To allow a non secure outside source full access to the Speaker of the House's phones and computers is a security breach waiting to happen," wrote Marty Taylor, the executive director of progressive PAC New Blue USA, on X, formerly Twitter.
Johnson was a relative unknown before being elected to the House Speaker role after three weeks of Republican infighting. Since ascending to the new job, he has faced increased scrutiny for his fundamental Christian beliefs, including having strong ties to Christian nationalism, and attitudes towards LGBTQ+ people.
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Shannon Power is a Greek-Australian reporter, but now calls London home. They have worked as across three continents in print, ... Read more
