Porn-Site Age Verification Law Will Get Supreme Court Scrutiny

(Bloomberg) — The US Supreme Court will scrutinize a Texas law that requires porn sites to verify the age of users, agreeing to hear an industry trade group’s contentions that the measure violates the constitutional rights of adults.

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The case will test a law that has forced one of the biggest sites, Pornhub, to shut down in Texas. Texas is one of 19 states that have passed age verification laws since the beginning of 2023, according to the Free Speech Coalition, the trade association that challenged the measure.

The group says the law will deter adult viewers worried about the risk that their private information will be inadvertently exposed. The Free Speech Coalition also says the law is ineffective because it exempts search engines and social media sites that are replete with sexual material. The law applies to websites if more than a third of their content is deemed harmful to minors.

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton urged the Supreme Court to reject the appeal, saying the 5th US Circuit Court of Appeals was right to let the age-verification requirement take effect.

Paxton argued that much of the content on the porn sites is obscene, meaning that even adults lack a constitutional right to access. Paxton also pointed to a 1968 Supreme Court decision that said states could bar the dissemination of pornographic magazines to minors.

The Supreme Court in April refused to put the measure on hold.

The 5th Circuit blocked a separate provision that would require sites to post warnings about the health dangers of pornography. That provision isn’t at issue in the high court appeal.

The court will hear arguments and rule in the nine-month term that starts in October. The case is Free Speech Coalition v. Paxton, 23-1122.