The Supreme Court confirms the law of verification of the age of the Texas porn site

The United States Supreme Court has kept A law of Texas which could have great implications for freedom of expression online. The court ruled 6-3 by affirming Texas Law HB 1181which requires websites that house adult content to implement age check.

The coalition for non -profit freedom of expression asked the court in April 2024 to review the law. (The organization represents the adult industry.) Texas was one of the many states adopting age verification laws for porn websites. Pornhub left 17 states due to similar legislation.

Critics through the political spectrum noted that HB 1181 concerned the implications for the first amendment and online confidentiality. The effectiveness notes that no age verification method exists both precise and respects the confidentiality of users. (Unlike flashing in person, online verification requires data retention.)

HB 1181 requires websites which contain at least “a third party” of their content as “a harmful material for minors” to implement age. Age verification applies to all users visiting the sites. The mandate applies to the entire website, not just to parts with adult content.

Before today’s decision, the Supreme Court had previously canceled at attempted content online. In 1997, he rejected Reno c. American Civil Liberties Union mainly due to concerns about the rights of the first amendment. Under the American law, the content of adults is considered a protected discourse.

Judge Elena Kagan summed up the concerns of criticism in her dissident opinion. (Sotomayor and Jackson judges joined him.) “Adults have the right to see the same speech as a state can prohibit for children,” Kagan wrote. “And it is a reality of life – and also of the law – that adults and children do not live in hermetically sealed boxes. By preventing children from reaching access to speech ‘obscene for children’ ‘, states sometimes take measures preventing adults from seeing it also – even if, for adults, it is a constitutionally protected expression.”

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