Washington, D.C. — The U.S. Supreme Court upheld a Texas law mandating age verification for users accessing pornography, allowing the measure to remain in effect. In a ruling delivered on June 27, the Court voted 6-3, asserting that Texas has the right to implement such regulations to protect children from exposure to explicit material.
Justice Clarence Thomas, who authored the majority opinion, emphasized that allowing minors to access sexual content online without age verification poses significant risks. He noted that unlike a retail clerk, a website operator cannot visually assess a user’s age. The ruling stressed the necessity of implementing methods to prevent underage users from finding explicit content unnoticed.
Texas is among 24 states that have implemented age verification laws for online pornography in recent years. This ruling establishes a national precedent for lower courts reviewing similar laws in other jurisdictions. According to Texas law, websites must verify user ages if more than one-third of their content is deemed sexually explicit and harmful to minors. Parents are empowered to sue sites that fail to comply if their children access inappropriate material.
The legislation enforces penalties, including fines of up to $10,000 per day for non-compliance and an additional $250,000 if a child is exposed to adult content due to inadequate age verification measures. Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton hailed the decision as a significant victory for children’s protection, emphasizing the need for companies to adopt reasonable measures to safeguard minors from harmful content.
The ruling follows a lawsuit filed in 2023 by adult industry representatives challenging the law. They argued it infringed on adults’ First Amendment rights to access expression and placed an undue burden on lawful users of pornography. The Free Speech Coalition, a trade association for adult entertainment, expressed concern over the implications of the Court’s ruling for broader free expression and privacy online.
However, the Supreme Court did not find merit in this argument, stating that the law aims primarily to shield minors, acknowledging that it may impose a burden on adults, but deeming that burden “incidental.” Thomas noted that age verification requirements are typical in various contexts where age restrictions apply.
Advocates for the law, including Dani Pinter from the National Center on Sexual Exploitation, argued that the case underscores a common-sense approach to age verification. She highlighted past concerns that many pornographic websites do not enforce age restrictions, sometimes relying solely on users to self-identify their age.
Pinter indicated that despite some states already passing age verification laws, compliance has been inconsistent, with some sites entirely withdrawing from those markets. She expressed optimism that the Supreme Court’s endorsement of Texas’s law could encourage more states, or even the federal government, to adopt similar protective measures for children online.
This ruling is seen as historic, marking a potential shift toward enhanced online protections for minors. The implications of this decision will likely resonate in ongoing discussions about internet safety and regulation.
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