Texas Scorecard by Erin Anderson August 14, 2023
Pornhub and others claim the state’s new rules for ensuring users are 18 years old violate the First Amendment.A group of pornography promoters is suing Texas over a new state law requiring porn sites to verify that users are at least 18 years of age before they access X-rated content online, or else pay hefty fines.
Several states have recently adopted age verification laws to keep minors from viewing adult content, but Texas is the first state sued by the porn industry over its law.
Gov. Greg Abbott signed House Bill 1181 in June.
Pornhub, one of the largest online platforms for users to share sex videos, is now asking a federal court to block the law before it takes effect on September 1.
Additional plaintiffs include other third-party porn platforms, several adult content creators, and the Free Speech Coalition, which defends porn providers.
Their lawsuit claims that HB 1181 violates the First Amendment.
HB 1181 requires commercial porn websites to use “reasonable age verification methods”—either digital identification or a commercial system that verifies age using government-issued ID or other data. The businesses may not retain users’ identifying information.
Penalties for porn sites that violate the law include $10,000 per day for operating without age verification, $10,000 per instance of retaining users’ information, and up to $250,000 if a minor accesses harmful sexual material due to a business violating the age verification requirement.
More:
https://texasscorecard.com/state/porn-sites-sue-texas-to-block-age-verification-law/
