In a move that protects young people using the internet, the U.S. Supreme Court upheld a Texas law requiring porn sites to verify that users are ages 18 or older.
In a 6-3 decision, the high court rejected a challenge to the state’s law, HB 1181. The law, which was enacted in 2023, requires websites to verify that a user is over the age of 18 if more than one-third of their content is considered harmful to minors.
Multi Media, LLC, and Hammy Media, two companies that operate pornography sites, argued the law violated free speech and privacy protections, including increasing risks of identity theft, extortion, and data breaches. Critics of the law also argued that it was too broad and would apply to websites on reproductive health, sex education, or LGBT issues.
Justices who ruled in favor of Texas declared that age verification is “within a State’s authority to prevent children from accessing sexually explicit content,” and “does not directly regulate the protected speech of adults.”
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Justice Clarence Thomas delivered the majority opinion writing, “To the extent that it burdens adults’ rights to access such speech, it has ‘only an incidental effect on protected speech,’ making it subject to intermediate scrutiny.”
Justice Elena Kagan dissented along with Justices Sonia Sotomayor and Ketanji Brown Jackson in arguing that the law should have been held to a higher standard of strict scrutiny, or the highest level of legal review for cases related to fundamental rights, such as free speech.
“But what if Texas could do better — what if Texas could achieve its interest without so interfering with adults’ constitutionally protected rights in viewing the speech HB 1181 covers?” Kagan wrote. “The State should be foreclosed from restricting adults’ access to protected speech if that is not, in fact, necessary.”
As CBN News reported, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton filed a lawsuit against the two media companies arguing they violated the state’s law. Additionally, he requested there be civil penalties of $10,000 per day for every day the companies continue to violate the state law protecting minors from illicit content.
A federal district court issued an order in 2023 that temporarily barred the state from enforcing the age verification requirement.
Senior U.S. District Judge David Alan Ezra wrote that the verification discourages access because it creates concerns about identity theft and extortion. He noted that HB1181 is identical to the Child Online Protection Act, which the Supreme Court deemed likely unconstitutional in its 2004 decision in Ashcroft v. ACLU.
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit lifted Ezra’s order and allowed the law to take effect. The appeal was challenged and the Supreme Court agreed to review the appeals court’s decision last year. Oral arguments in the case were heard earlier this year.
Paxton celebrated the court’s ruling Friday, calling it a “major victory for children, parents, and the ability of states to protect minors from the damaging effects of online pornography.”
“Companies have no right to expose children to pornography and must institute reasonable age verification measures,” Paxton said. “I will continue to enforce the law against any organization that refuses to take the necessary steps to protect minors from explicit materials.”
